This well-documented book discusses the power and limitations of class actions with insights and analysis from a panel of distinguished scholars. It pays special attention to the introduction and the applicability of such a legal device in European civil law countries. The book offers a broad legal and economic investigation, drawing insights from US judicial experience and giving a rigorous discussion of both the philosophical and constitutional aspects and the economic mechanisms and incentives set up by class actions.

Contemporary law and economics has greatly expanded its scope of inquiry as well as its sphere of influence. The extension to many idiosyncratic topics and issues that sometime lie outside the traditional domain of the discipline have fostered the emergence of a new consciousness better grasped by a comparative approach. The original contributions to this Research Handbook provide a glimpse of the new perspectives that enrich the law and economics methodology.

Contemporary law and economics has greatly expanded its scope of inquiry as well as its sphere of influence. By focussing specifically on a comparative approach, this Handbook offers new insights for developing current law and economics research. It also provides stimuli for further research, exploring the idea that the comparative method offers a valuable way to enrich law and economics scholarship. With contributions from leading scholars from around the world, the Handbook sets the context by examining the past, present and future of comparative law and economics before addressing this...