Legal framing : reference-dependent evaluation of legal consequences
Contractual and statutory rules can be formulated in different ways, provide context, and set up procedures. In legal scholarship, economic theory of law, and legal practice this contextuality is hardly considered relevant for a person's behavior. By contrast, behavioral economics emphasizes th...
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| Format: | Electronic Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2016
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| In: | Year: 2016 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Summary: | Contractual and statutory rules can be formulated in different ways, provide context, and set up procedures. In legal scholarship, economic theory of law, and legal practice this contextuality is hardly considered relevant for a person's behavior. By contrast, behavioral economics emphasizes that choices are sensitive to context. This contextuality is channelled through what economists call reference-dependent preferences. I propose that legal contextuality, i.e., "legal framing" matters. In three experimental studies, I show that subtly different legal rules may lead to substantially different behavior. Two studies investigate the effects of legal framing on contractual performance. The third study prescinds from the contract context to illustrate the concepts' applicability to more general legal problems such as legal uncertainty. The findings have implications for legal problems ranging from seemingly narrow problems of contract choice to important legal topics such as vague legal standards |
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