Law and Market Economy

'Malloy develops a semiotic interpretation of work in law and economics that links exchange and creativity to ethical values. The result is a powerful new perspective on law and markets that brings to mind work from Hayek to Hurst. This book is an exceptionally important contribution to contemporary scholarship on the nature of Law.' John Brigham, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Member of the Board of Trustees of the Law and Society Association

• 1. Introduction; 2. A general framework; A basic introduction to semiotics; A brief overview of the general argument; 3. Law and market economy: further clarification; Market as community; Market as a process of semiotic signification; 4. Wealth as a process of discovery (wealth, discovery, and imaginative choice); Coase's theorem; Public choice; 5. Social organization and the discovery process; The relationship between social organization and proactive wealth formation; An ethic of social responsibility for law and market economy; Outlining an ethic of social responsibility (humility, diversity, reciprocity); The ethic of social responsibility and wealth: some supportive evidence; 6. Implications of law and market economy; Efficiency does not maximize wealth; An extensive distribution promotes wealth; Rhetorical strategies have consequence; 7. Conclusions.