A Bridge Between: Law and the New Intellectual Histories of Capitalism

Recent scholarship has witnessed a revival of intellectual history and the history of capitalism as distinct fields, after decades of perceived decline. This paper argues that law and legal history serve as essential bridges connecting these two resurgent disciplines. The author traces how both intellectual history and capitalism studies have increasingly incorporated legal analysis since the 2008 financial crisis brought economic questions into scholarly prominence. Mehrotra demonstrates that law has always been central to understanding markets, democracy, and capitalism through foundational works by Max Weber, Joseph Schumpeter, and Critical Legal Studies scholars. Using American tax law and policy as a case study, the paper illustrates how legal doctrine shapes economic behavior and ideological understanding of market relations. The article argues that law and legal institutions remain indispensable to understanding capitalism's intellectual foundations, making legal history a crucial component of any comprehensive history of capitalism.

Topics: Legal History · Legal Theory

Keywords: capitalism · intellectual history · tax law · market economy · legal institutions · economic policy · legal doctrine