Economic Assessment of International Commercial Law Reform

This project, run by Professor Jeffrey Wool, seeks to develop standards for the economic assessment of international commercial law reform.

The production of economic benefits, whether micro, macro, or development, is usually stated to be the central and driving objective of, and justification for, international commercial law reform (ICLR). Yet the evidence of such benefits, the characteristics of law reform needed to produce such benefits, and the data and methodology to establish such benefits (the core economic assessment elements) have not been subject to systematic academic work. There are few, if any, agreed international principles, standards, or parameters for assessing economic benefits in this context.

This project will provide the platform for such work, seeking to create, or to help create, such principles, standards, and parameters. The project, which is inter-disciplinary, will be of general interest to all those creating, involved in, or the subject of ICLR, including (i) industry, (ii) national governments, (iii) international organisations which sponsor, fund, or otherwise support ICLR, and (iv) legal scholars and economists.

This project is a joint undertaking between the Commercial Law Centre, the UNIDROIT Foundation and the Global Business Law Institute at the University of Washington.

Professor Jeffrey Wool heads the project. Ms Jenifer Varzaly, Cambridge University, conducted initial research.