How can the law make us better, and how does it connect with human behavior? In exploring the topic, authors Benjamin van Rooij and Adam Fine present many examples of how the law has been intended and applied. Professor van Rooij joins us on episode 328 to discuss this and more from his co-authored book The Behavioral Code: The Hidden Ways the Law Makes Us Better Or Worse.

Professor van Rooij is Professor of Law and Society at The University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. His areas of expertise include regulatory theory, law enforcement, compliance, lawmaking, law and development, environmental law, and Chinese law. He received his PhD in Law, Governance, and Development from Leiden University, along with his Doctorate in Chinese Language and Cultures.

He researches on how legal rules shape individual and organizational behavior. Here he draws on the broader social and behavioral science to understand the processes of compliance, the effects of corporate culture, as well as the assumptions lawyers have about the behavioral effects of law. He uses innovative fieldwork data both to seek improvement to persistent implementation problems as well as to contribute to existing regulatory, criminological and socio-legal theories.

Links: The Behavioral Code on Amazon | UCI Law | Google Scholar

328: Benjamin van Rooij | The Intersection Of Law And Behavior In “The Behavioral Code”