Simple Games in a Complex World: A Generative Approach to the Adoption of Norms

Uncovering the boundaries of legal rules and defining their proper limits have traditionally vexed students of the law. When must we regulate? When will behavior coalesce in an appropriate way without the intervention of law? These are big questions, as the recent explosion of norms literature makes clear. I do not try to answer these questions here. Instead, I introduce a particular approach to examining these questions, stepping beyond the formal tools that law professors often use. Applying this methodology could ultimately produce a much richer feel for the possibilities and risks in these situations.