Law, economy and society: Reflections on the politics of regulation

Abstract This brief comment draws on Sabine Frerich's paper to discuss the contribution of the Journal to the study of regulation of the economy, especially in the political context of the 1980s and later. It will concentrate on issues of non‐economic values in economic regulation and the role of institutional design, and it will contrast behaviouralist approaches to the study of law and the economy with other approaches emphasising the meaning of social actors and the effect of power relations. My comment suggests that the Journal has played an important role in widening analysis of regulation from a predominantly economic approach to one drawing on a wide range of social values.