Current Scholarship
Book Review: Law and Macroeconomics as Mainstream

In spite of its name, economic analysis of law is mostly unconcerned with money and markets. In a recently published book, Law and Macroeconomics: legal remedies for recessions, Professor Yair Listokin challenges this doubtful convention. He advocates “expansionary legal policies” to stimulate the economy when monetary policy reaches the zero-lower bound. This proposal is presented as a straightforward application of mainstream economic views, not a heterodox deviation. My review considers how the book’s main arguments depart from established views in economic analysis of law and discusses how its applications fare in light of the Keynesian perspective that it purports to uphold. I conclude with a discussion of the book’s relevance for the current recession.