How law structures economic power, markets, and inequality.
Law and Political Economy (LPE) is an interdisciplinary approach that examines how law structures economic power, markets, and inequality—and how economic interests, in turn, shape legal institutions and outcomes. Rather than treating law as neutral or merely technical, LPE views law as a constitutive force in political and economic life.
It argues that markets do not arise naturally; they are created and governed by legal rules—property rights, contracts, corporate law, labour law, tax regimes, and administrative regulation.
LPE challenges the idea that efficiency is the ultimate legal goal, insisting that democracy, justice, and equality matter just as much.
How law concentrates wealth and authority (e.g. corporate dominance, oligarchic capture).
The state is not external to markets—it actively builds and enforces them.
When economic power dominates lawmaking, democratic accountability erodes.
Employment law, unions, and precarity are central—not peripheral—issues.
Trade law, investment treaties, and financial regulation reproduce global hierarchies.
From an Indonesian political-economy perspective, LPE helps analyse:
LPE provides a framework to question why laws often appear neutral, yet consistently favour the same economic actors.