The work carried out within the DIRIS unit favours interdisciplinary approaches, mainly either at the interface between economics and law or at the interface between economics and mathematics, with two leading research issues:

1) The economic analysis of law and judicial institutions.

Using the usual tools of economic analysis (microeconomics, game theory, theory of incentives and contracts, econometric or experimental methods), the aim is to study the effects of regulation and law on the functioning of markets or the organisation of specific activities and professions; to analyse and compare the impact of legal traditions and the organisation of the judicial institution on market and non-market activities; or to evaluate the effects linked to the dynamics of the evolution of legal systems (diversity, harmonisation or standardisation)

Five main topics are developed:

1.     The economics of litigation, liability and justice,
2.     The economics of the informal sector and crime,
3.     The economics of regulation and competition law,
4.     The economics of corporate law and insolvency law,
5.     Economics of data and the internet.

2) Economic analysis of strategic interactions

This body of work focuses on the foundations of imperfect competition (game theory concepts, conjectural variation approach) and on the manifestations and consequences of market power in decentralised economies. Thus, the modelling of strategic interactions concerns complex market universes where markets are interconnected. The models analysed also highlight possible market failures due to imperfectly competitive behaviour. Public policy proposals can also be studied.

Four main topics are developed:

1.     General equilibrium and strategic interactions
2.     Models of cooperation failures
3.     Conjectural variations and Nash equilibrium
4.     Public policies

Valorisation of research

The researchers of the DIRIS axis organise several regular scientific events:

•  The LIEN seminar “Law, Institutions and Economics in Nanterre”, currently co-organised by Alessandro Melcarne and Benjamin Monnery, which has been held since 2009 on two Mondays a month throughout the academic year, and is open to all researchers (especially from the Ile-de-France) interested in work on the relationship between economics and law.
• The seminar “Economies of the Muslim World”, jointly organised by EconomiX (CNRS-University of Paris Nanterre), the Cresppa/GTM and the Centre de Recherche en Économie Appliquée pour le Développement (CREAD, Algiers), one Wednesday per month, from 2 to 4 pm
• The “International Meeting in Law & Economics” workshop brings the best French and European specialists in the field of Law & Economics to the Ile-de-France every year.
• The “Law & Economic Policy International Workshop” brings together French and foreign professionals and academics each year to discuss an issue related to the implementation and evaluation of law and/or competition policy.
• DIRIS also periodically organises study days or thematic round tables (such as those inaugurating the Law and Economic Policy International Workshop).

Academic outreach and interaction

The members of the DIRIS Axis maintain close relations with associations or learned societies, such as the Association Française de Droit et Economie, the Italian Society of Law & Economics, or the German Law & Economics Association or thematic networks such as The Competition Law and Economics European Network. They also play an active role in the animation of some of these associations (Chair of the Center European Program in Economic Theory; General Secretariat of the European Association of Law & Economics), and participate in the editorial board of academic journals (International Review of Law and Economics, The Review of Finance and Banking).

The members of the axis also have ongoing scientific exchanges with European universities and research centres: the Amsterdam Center for Law and Economics (ACLE) (Netherlands); the Bergen Center for Competition Law and Economics (BECCLE) (Norway); the University of Bologna (Italy); Collegio Carlo Alberto of the University of Turin; the Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation (MaCCI) (Germany); the Public Economics Group of the University of Marburg (Germany) ; the Max-Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods (Germany); the Maastricht Institute for Transnational Legal Research (METRO, Belgium); the Rotterdam Institute of Law & Economics (RILE, The Netherlands); the University of Tel Aviv (Israel); the Tilburg Law and Economic Centre (The Netherlands); the University of Udine (Italy); the Catholic University of Leuven.

Interactions with the economic and social environment

Two young researchers of the DIRIS axis have recently been distinguished by the French National Research Agency, which granted them funding for their projects, bringing together multidisciplinary teams: Alessandro MELCARNE (ANR JCJC 2017: Labor Justice in the XXI century), and Benjamin MONNERY (ANR JCJC 2018: Political Behaviour and Electoral Accountability)

The DIRIS-EconomiX axis is also responsible for the Observatory of Disparities in Criminal Justice, a project funded by the COMUE Université Paris Lumières over 2020-2022.

Its members also contribute or have contributed to expert reports for various public institutions (Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of the Environment, DARES, GIP Mission Droit et Justice) as well as private institutions (Bar Association, French Energy Council), and are contributors to several ANR projects.

Finally, close links are maintained with legal professionals and economic and judicial experts. Representatives and advisors to French and European regulatory authorities and consultants are regularly associated with events organised by the DIRIS axis and lead workshops and working groups in the framework of training courses in which members of the axis are involved.

Relations with education

The DIRIS team is strongly involved in the Master’s degree in Economics of Law at Paris Nanterre. This Master’s programme offers training based on the complementarity between economics and law. The Master 1 offers integrated teaching (500 hours) in economics and private law on major issues (competition, contracts, justice) which are addressed in their national and international dimensions, combined with rigorous learning of quantitative economics methods (risk assessment, econometrics). The Master 2 (340 hours) offers a course in “Economic Analysis and Impact of Law”, which deals with the specific problems of legal economics and gives the mastery of its qualitative and quantitative tools (comparative analysis of justice and legal systems, evaluation and impact methods). These tools are used to analyse different dimensions of competition (competition policy, intellectual property, digital technology, public/private partnerships) in a true bi-disciplinary perspective of economics and private law. For more information: Master Economie du Droit, and Association d’Economie du Droit de l’Université Paris Nanterre. The members of DIRIS are also involved in other Master’s degrees such as the Master’s degree in “Economic Analysis and Policy”, or the Master’s degree in “Risk and Environment” (ISEFAR), a course in Statistical and Economic Engineering of Finance, Insurance and Risk.

At the doctoral level, DIRIS members have developed a partnership with European universities (currently: the University of Turin and the Anglo-American University of Prague), in the framework of a doctoral programme “Institutions, Economics, and Law”.