Group III: Law & Economics

The case of the PSAC 

Are courts and legislators under the persuasion of the academic ivory towers 

At a time when AI tools force us to reflect on the importance and functions of academia and when new ways of thinking, doing and applying law are urgently needed, it is important to determine the role of Portuguese legal doctrine in the daily life of the judiciary and the legislature. Thus, with an empirical approach with the support of quantitative and qualitative methods, in particular with the use of data science, the project seeks to understand, among others, whether Portuguese judges, legislators and policy-makers are anchored and supported by national doctrine, in what terms and with what impact. It is all the more important when the recent proposals for judicial reforms by the Associação Sindical dos Juízes Portugueses point to problems with judges with too academic profiles and given that the pandemic also brought the need for a reinforced scientific basis for legislative  acts and policy design. 

Duration: 2024-2028 (48 months)

Project status: Ongoing

The project aims to understand of how the current financial system works, the social and environmental pressures it faces, and how it can be rewired to create better value for society through sustainable approaches and initiatives such as the integration of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing, impact investing, positive screening in a context enhanced by sustainable public finances policies.