The Socio‐economic Order and Forensic Economics

With the expanded use of forensic economists by the legal system has come a heightened awareness within the profession of potential and actual unethical behaviour by its members. Examines the arguments explaining unethical behaviour in detail and shows that their descriptive and empirical foundations have been excessively narrow. The market does not consist solely of trial testimony, as the literature would lead one to believe, but in the entire array of uses of forensic economists, especially in writing reports of economic damages. Asserts that the ethical conduct of most forensic economists appears to be unimpeachable. Moreover, there are strong competitive pressures in the market to obtain countervailing opinions which, ultimately, serve to minimize incompetence and unethical behaviour on the part of forensic economists. Recommendations to improve the market further include the provision of additional information about the quality of forensic economists′ work, and promotion of a code of ethics for the profession. Concludes with a proposal that might be considered if ethical conduct among forensic economists were to take a turn for the worse: creation of an expert registry that would assign economists to a case, without the economist knowing which side employed him.