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Introduction

The work of the Italian scholar Augusto Graziani anticipates in many re­spects some insights of modern law and economics and institutional theory. His arguments focus with great clarity on the link between economics and legal studies.

In his view, such a link is twofold. To identify and exemplify laws independent of their natural development and of any formal qualifica­tion of them - a particular need in the fundamental works under study here - Graziani illustrates the generic relationship between economic reasoning and legal choices (especially on the part of the lawmaker). Sometimes, in fact, the very existence of certain legal institutions is ontologically dictated by economic requirements: one example that can be cited even without deeper analysis is the institution of the state, which represents the modern constitutional entity and owes its origin to economics. The state was born of the need to draft public budgets in order to accomplish public goals. On the other hand, and more specifically, the author analyses some legal devel­opments in terms of efficiency, and according to the strict criteria of the microeconomic method, especially in the areas of inheritance and contract. Interestingly, Graziani introduced the modern concept of ‘efficient breach’ of contract.

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Source: Backhaus Jürgen G. (ed.). The Elgar Companion to Law And Economics. Second Edition. Edward Elgar,2005. – 777 p.2. 2005
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