Labor and Finance as Inevitably Transnational: Globalization Demands a Sophisticated and Transnational Lens

Abstract

The approach of law and economics raised the visibility of the business law curriculum in legal education. But its narrow focus on efficiency and aggregate growth failed to explain the weaknesses of the orthodox free market model. In contrast, law and socioeconomics should enrich legal education by offering more compelling descriptions of market realities while also providing the opening for richer and wider discussions about alternative reform possibilities. Two legal fields that have acutely felt the pressures of globalization are labor and finance law. This article describes how both of these areas affect and are affected by globalization. The authors discuss the contribution of socioeconomics to our understanding of both the impacts of globalization on labor and finance, and potential responses to those impacts. They discuss the importance of consciously and explicitly recognizing the consequences of globalization and integrating socioeconomic concepts into our teaching of these areas of law.