Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T20:39:03.009Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Same-sex marriage: the irrelevance of the economic approach to law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2010

Mark D. White
Mark D. White*
Affiliation:
Professor, Department of Political Science, Economics, and Philosophy, College of Staten Island/CUNY
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Several noted legal scholars, most prominently Richard Posner, have applied the economic analysis of law to the debate over same-sex marriage. In this note, I argue that the economic approach to law is ill-equipped to deal with the issues of principle, dignity and rights that are at the core of the debate, regardless of the position taken on the issue. Other scholars, such as Darren Bush, acknowledge the shortcomings of the economic approach, such as the importance of the assumptions on which cost-benefit analysis is made, but they do not appreciate that this is symptomatic of the economic approach as a whole, not merely the application of it by some scholars in some cases. My contention is that the economic approach to law is appropriate regarding issues of policy, where trade-offs are essential and necessary, but not regarding issues of principle, with which trade-offs are not so easily made.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Law in Context , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , June 2010 , pp. 139 - 149
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, Douglas W. (2006) ‘An Economic Assessment of Same-Sex Marriage Laws’, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy 29, 949–80.Google Scholar
Baker, C. Edwin (1975) ‘The Ideology of the Economic Analysis of Law’, Philosophy and Public Affairs 5, 3–48.Google Scholar
Becker, Gary S. (2005) ‘On Gay Marriage’, The Becker–Posner Blog, 17 July 2005, available at www.becker-posner-blog.com/archives/2005/07/on_gay_marriage.html.Google Scholar
Becker, Gary S. (2008) ‘Should Gay Marriages Be Allowed?’ The Becker–Posner Blog, 10 August 2008, available at www.becker-posner-blog.com/archives/2008/08/should_gay_marr.html.Google Scholar
Becker, Gary S. and Posner, Richard A. (2009) Uncommon Sense: Economic Insights, from Marriage to Terrorism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, Belinda (1991) ‘The Economics of Wifing Services: Law and Economics on the Family’, Journal of Law and Society 18, 206–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, Darren (2001) ‘Moving to the Left by Moving to the Right: A Law & Economics Defense of Same-Sex Marriage’, Women’s Rights Law Reporter 22, 115–38.Google Scholar
Chapman, Bruce (1984) ‘Raising Johnny to Be Good: A Problematic Case for the Economic Analysis of Law’, University of Toronto Law Journal 34, 358–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dworkin, Ronald (1977) Taking Rights Seriously. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Eskridge, William N. (1992) ‘A Social Constructionist Critique of Posner’s Sex and Reason: Steps toward a Gaylegal Agenda’, Yale Law Journal 102, 333–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eskridge, William N., (1996) The Case for Same-Sex Marriage: From Sexual Liberty to Civilized Commitment. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Gerstmann, Evan (2004) Same-Sex Marriage and the Constitution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Glendon, Mary Ann (2004) ‘For Better or For Worse?’ Wall Street Journal, 25 February 2004, available at www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110004735.Google Scholar
Griffin, James (1986) Well-Being: Its Meaning, Measurement, and Moral Importance. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Hatzis, Aristides N. (2006) ‘The Negative Externalities of Immorality: The Case of Same-Sex Marriage’, Skepsis 17, 52–65.Google Scholar
Hausman, Daniel M. and Mcpherson, Michael S. (2006) Economic Analysis, Moral Philosophy, and Public Policy, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaplow, Louis and Shavell, Steven (2002) Fairness Versus Welfare. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koppelman, Andrew (2002) The Gay Rights Question in American Law. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller, Christine (2002) ‘An Economic Analysis of Same-Sex Marriage’, German Working Papers in Law and Economics, Vol. 2002, Paper 14, available at www.bepress.com/gwp/default/vol2002/iss1/art14.Google Scholar
Nishimoto, Ryan (2003) ‘Marriage Makes Cents: How Law & Economics Justifies Same-Sex Marriage’, Boston College Third World Law Journal 23, 379–98.Google Scholar
Posner, Richard A. (1983) The Economics of Justice, 2nd edn. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Posner, Richard A. (1992) Sex and Reason. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Posner, Richard A. (1995) Overcoming Law. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Posner, Richard A. (1997) ‘Should There Be Homosexual Marriage? And If So, Who Should Decide?’, Michigan Law Review 95, 1578–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Posner, Richard A. (1998) Economic Analysis of Law, 5th edn. New York: Aspen Law & Business.Google Scholar
Posner, Richard A. (2003) ‘Wedding Bell Blues’, New Republic, 22 December 2003, 33–37.Google Scholar
Posner, Richard A. (2005a) ‘The Law and Economics of Gay Marriage’, The Becker–Posner Blog, 17 July 2005, available at www.becker-posner-blog.com/archives/2005/07/the_law_and_eco.html.Google Scholar
Posner, Richard A. (2005b) ‘Gay Marriage – Posner’s Response to Comments’, The Becker-Posner Blog, 24 July 2005, available at www.becker-posner-blog.com/archives/2005/07/gay_marriage--p.html.Google Scholar
Posner, Richard A. (2008) ‘The Economics of Gay Marriage’, The Becker-Posner Blog, 10 August 2008, available at www.becker-posner-blog.com/archives/2008/08/the_economics_o_8.html.Google Scholar
Sen, Amartya (1970) ‘The Impossibility of a Paretian Liberal’, reprinted in Choice Welfare and Measurement. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982, 285–90.Google Scholar
Sen, Amartya (1973) ‘Behaviour and the Concept of Preference’, reprinted in Choice Welfare and Measurement. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982, 54–73.Google Scholar
Sen, Amartya (1977) ‘Rational Fools: A Critique of the Behavioural Foundations of Economic Theory’, reprinted in Choice Welfare and Measurement. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982, 84–106.Google Scholar
Sen, Amartya and Williams, Bernard (1982) ‘Introduction: Utilitarianism and Beyond’, in Sen, and Williams, (eds), Utilitarianism and Beyond. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sunstein, Cass R. (2007) ‘Cost-Benefit Analysis without Analyzing Costs or Benefits: Reasonable Accommodation, Balancing, and Stigmatic Harms’, University of Chicago Law Review 74, 1895–909.Google Scholar
White, Mark D. (2006) ‘A Kantian Critique of Neoclassical Law and Economics’, Review of Political Economy 18, 235–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, Mark D. (2008) ‘Social Law and Economics and the Quest for Dignity and Rights’, in Davis, John B. and Wilfred, Dolfsma (eds), The Elgar Companion to Social Economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 575–94.Google Scholar
Zelder, Martin (1993) ‘Incompletely Reasoned “Sex”: A Review of Posner’s Somewhat Misleading Guide to the Economic Analysis of Sex and Family Law’, Michigan Law Review 91, 1584–608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar