Law and economics
An approach that uses economic concepts to analyse how legal rules shape incentives, allocate resources, and affect welfare.
Law and economics applies tools such as incentives, transaction costs, risk allocation, efficiency, and externalities to legal questions. It is prominent in contract, tort, property, corporate, competition, and regulatory law. The approach can be descriptive, explaining behaviour under legal rules, or normative, recommending rules that improve welfare or reduce social costs. In Switzerland, it informs debates on market regulation, liability, corporate governance, competition policy, insurance, and public-law instruments, while remaining subject to constitutional values, democratic choices, and distributive concerns.