The laws are nothing more than a little ink on paper. And yet manage to influence the behavior of people: what institutions and citizens believe will happen if they meet or violate a law is the very foundation of contemporary republics, despite which it is still unclear why some systems legal are effective and others are dead letter. Kaushik Basu raises in this book a novel approach to the economic analysis of law, which draws on behavioral economics and that versatile mathematical discipline that is the theory of games to better understand the operation of punishments and rewards, of the social norms, politics and corruption. Optimistic and very proactive, the former chief economist of the World Bank points out the theoretical and practical weaknesses of current legal systems and applies the concept of "focal point" in practical examples - punctuality, child labor, the role of a charismatic leader -, thanks to which public policies can be considered that really take into account the people of flesh and blood, those that inhabit the republics founded only on beliefs.