By Thomas S. Ulen

This piece was originally written by Prof. (Dr.) Thomas S. Ulen as the foreword to the edited book Economic Analysis of Law and Governance, and is reproduced here as a dedication to Prof. (Dr.) Thomas S. Ulen. This foreword reflects on the reception of law and economics in the Indian legal academy and bar, situating this reception within the discipline’s own history in the United States. Drawing on Thomas Kuhn’s account of paradigm shifts, Prof. Ulen draws an analogy between the rise of law and economics with the displacement of the geocentric model by the heliocentric one, while cautioning that unlike astronomy, law and economics need not displace doctrinal scholarship but can coexist alongside it. He surveys the discipline’s global spread, and the persistence of confirmation bias among scholars and practitioners alike. Finally, he closes with predictions for the future of law and economics in public health law, legal history, comparative law, and above all the growing importance of empirical data in legal scholarship. We are reproducing this Foreword here in honour of Prof. Ulens legacy and his invaluable contributions to the genesis and evolution of Law and Economics at GNLU and other universities in India. We are publishing this foreword along with the lectures delivered by Prof. Ulen during the 03rd GNLU Workshop on Law and Economics: Theories and Applications, organised by the GNLU Centre for Law and Economics in the fall of 2022.

Keywords: Law and Economics; Legal Education in India; Legal Scholarship Methodology; Doctrinal and Interdisciplinary Legal Analysis; Empirical Legal Studies; Comparative Law

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