The irrelevance of normative considerations for founding an Austrian law and economics: Reply to Marciano

In a comment on my paper, “An Austrian approach to law and economics, with special reference to superstition” (Leeson 2012), Marciano contends that Posnerian foundations “may be problematic for an Austrian approach to law and economics”. In this reply I argue that the differences between Posner and Austrians that Marciano uses as the basis for his contention are normative. If, as Austrians claim, Austrian economics is purely positive, those differences are irrelevant to the appropriate foundations for an Austrian law and economics. They pose no problem for a Posnerian founding.