Dr G. Dari-Mattiacci has been appointed Professor of Law & Economics in the Faculty of Law of the University of Amsterdam (UvA).

In this appointment, Giuseppe Dari-Mattiacci will conduct research in the area of economic analyses of law, or ‘Law & Economics'. Law & Economics is a methodology that can be used to understand the influence of the law on human behaviour. Law & Economics makes use of micro-economic and econometric techniques in order to analyse diverse aspects of the law ranging from tort law to contract law, from criminal law to environmental law, and from intellectual property law to procedural and constitutional law. Dari-Mattiacci's research enhances traditional Law & Economics methods by making use of historical analysis. This approach allows the law to be studied in an evolutionary perspective, raising new questions. Such a perspective provides insight into how socio-economic changes influence the law, and vice versa.

Dari-Mattiacci studied law at the University of Rome, La Sapienza, and obtained his doctorate cum laude in 2002 from Utrecht University. He began his career at the UvA in 2004, working first as a lecturer, and then as a senior university lecturer and director of the Foundations of Law & Economics programme at the Amsterdam Centre for Law and Economics (ACLE). He is also a research fellow at the Tinbergen Institute. Previously, Dari-Mattiacci worked as a researcher at Utrecht University and as a visiting professor at George Mason University School of Law. In 2007 he received a Vidi grant from the NWO for his research on the evolution of lawmaking in ancient Rome (Fiat Lex: The Evolution of Lawmaking), a research project that combines juridical, economic, and historical analyses.