A Quantitative Ecological Analysis of the Law: A New Methodological Approach to Legal Studies on Environmental Matters

Abstract

The main characteristic of economic analyses of law is the adoption of economic efficiency as the essential criterion in analysing and evaluating the effects of laws. However, contemporary environmental challenges oblige us to radically reconsider not only the legal norms underlying social behaviours but also the methodological approach and the founding principles through which said norms are defined and evaluated. This aspect lays the grounds for a new discipline which could be called quantitative ecological analysis of the law, aimed at quantifying the short- and long-term ecological benefits derived from the introduction of a law. This article develops and discusses the prospect of a quantitative ecological analysis of the law as a methodological approach useful in formulating and evaluating environmental laws. The methodological approach proposed in this article is applied to analysing two new environmental laws and quantifying, in analytical terms, the ecological benefits that could derive from the hypothetical introduction of these laws in the Italian legal system. quantitative ecological analysis of the law, environmental law, quantitativemethods, environmental challenges, Co2 emission reduction, sustainable transport, railway transport, electric vehicles, Italian legal system.