This course constitutes an introduction to the fundamental concepts of the interdisciplinary academic field ‘Law and Economics’, such as efficiency, cost-benefit analysis, marginality, the economic approach to legal goods, etc. Furthermore, it attempts to explain, using both theoretical/doctrinal tools and legal examples, the field’s enormous impact on legal thinking, methodology and education. It also intends to arm today’s lawyers with the necessary tools which will enable them to gain a more rigorous understanding of modern complex legal-economic phenomena and improve their professional presence and performance.

Additionally, the course will briefly examine the multiple applications of the ‘Law and Economics’ discipline in a horizontal manner, i.e., concerning all legal sectors without exception. Then, emphasis will be placed upon issues pertaining to the LL.M. Program’s specialization, including central legal issues at the core of the EU acquis and key sectors, such as the constantly expanding EU antitrust policy. The aim of such examination is to investigate whether the objectives set by the EU towards achieving greater harmonization and integration align with established economic science. It must be noted that both the European Commission and the Court of Justice of the EU have given hopeful signals towards such direction, by adopting in the past three decades solutions and proposals based on consequentialist logic. Finally, it is an open question whether the concept of “economic freedom” as it is understood in contemporary political economy is compatible with the classical concern of legal science for more social justice.