Should Legal Empiricists Go Bayesian?

Author: Strnad, Jeff

Source: American Law and Economics Review, Volume 9, Number 1, Spring 2007 , pp. 195-303(109)

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Abstract:

Bayesian empirical approaches appear frequently in fields such as egineering, computer science, political science and medicine, but almost never in law. This article illustrates how such approaches might be very useful in empirical legal studies. In particular, Bayesian approaches enable a much more natural connection between the normative or positive issues that typically motivate such studies and the empirical results.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aler/ahm007

Publication date: 2007-03-01

More about this publication?

The rise of the field of law and economics has been extremely rapid over the last 25 years. Among important developments of the 1990s has been the founding of the American Law and Economics Association. The creation and rapid expansion of the ALEA and the creation of parallel associations in Europe, Latin America, and Canada attest to the growing acceptance of the economic perspective on law by judges, practitioners, and policy-makers.