Benefits of a Legal-Economic Approach to Comparative Family Law

This contribution analyzes possibilities for using economics within a legal interdisciplinary research project. It aims to demonstrate the added value, but also the caveats and limitations of such an approach. By referring to existing interdisciplinary research, it hopes to inspire researchers to start or reconsider the 1 PhD student at the University of Groningen (Netherlands), approach of their own interdisciplinary research project. The examples also function as illustrations that clarify the value of combining both disciplines. Economics can be used in comparative legal research in different ways. One option is to describe national legal systems in terms of economic concepts. This can result in a more in-depth perspective on the disadvantages (costs) and advantages (benefits) of each legal system. Another possibility is to explain the differences and similarities between different laws, by means of economic reasoning. A third option is to evaluate legal systems by economic norms. While ‘traditional’ comparative family law is regularly criticized for lacking an overarching framework for evaluative purposes, economic norms can aid in establishing a tertium comparationis for the evaluation of national laws.