Kai Purnhagen (*1980 in Giesen) is a German Professor of European and International Economic Law. He is Assistant Professor of Law and Governance at the Wageningen University and Distinguished International Visitor at the Law School of Erasmus University of Rotterdam.
Education and early career
Kai Purnhagen (1980) studied Law and International Law at the Justus-Liebig University of Giessen (State Exam, MJI, with distinction). He continued to study as Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW), completing a Research Master degree (LL.M.). Kai enrolled in the PhD programme of the Law Department of the European University Institute in Florence, Italy in 2007. In his capacity as PhD researcher he participated in various research projects, most notably as part of a research group on collective redress in the European Union, funded by the European Commission. In this time, he also was a visiting scholar at the London School of Economics and at the Global Legal Studies Center of the UW.
In 2013 Kai Purnhagen joined the Law and Governance group at Wageningen University as Assistant Professor. Before his appointment to Professor, he has been an Akademischer Rat aZ at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, a Member of the Executive Board of the Munich Risk and Insurance Center, a post-doc researcher at the Faculty of Law of the University of Amsterdam and a lecturer at the University of Lucerne. Kai is also a distinguished international visitor at the Rotterdam Institute of Law and Economics at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, a Senior Fellow of the Wageningen School of Social Sciences and a Fellow of the European Law Institute. Since his early days he has been a permanent visiting lecturer in Chemical law at the Justus-Liebig University of Giessen.
Kai writes on European and International Economic Law in the broad sense. His research interests concern European internal market law, trade law, insurance law, regulatory policy, risk regulation, and legal theory, especially behavioural law and economics.
He is known in particular for his work on internal market law and global risk regulation in trade relationships. He is a pioneer on the implementation of scientific insights into (internal market) law and on shaping the emerging field of global private law.
Journals and book series
Kai Purnhagen is principal editor of the book series Studies in European Economic Law and Regulation and member of various editorial boards such as the European Journal of Risk Regulation, the Journal of Financial Regulation, the Journal of Consumer Policy and the book series Economic Analysis of Law in European Legal Scholarship.
Towards a European Legal Culture, ed. with Genevieve Helleringer, Munchen, Oxford, Baden-Baden (C.H. Beck), 2014, ISBN 978-3-406-63420-8
Europarecht, Munchen (C.H. Beck), 2nd ed., 2014, ISBN 978-34-066-6721-3
Varieties of European Economic Law and Regulation, ed. with Peter Rott, New York, Heidelberg, Dordrecht u.a. (Springer Science), 2014, ISBN 978-33-190-4902-1
Vor sec. 13, 14 BGB, 13, 14 BGB with Hans-Wolfgang Micklitz, in: Munchener Kommentar zum BGB, 7th edition, Munchen (C.H. Beck), 2015.
The Politics of Systematization in EU Product Safety Regulation, New York, Heidelberg, Dordrecht u.a. (Springer Science), 2013, ISBN 978-94-007-6542-9
Governing Nano Foods: Principles-Based Responsive Regulation, with Bernd van der Meulen, Harry Bremmers, Nidhi Gupta, Hans Bouwmeester, Leon Geyer, New York, Amsterdam u.a. (Academic Press), 2013, ISBN 978-94-007-6542-9
E-Commerce in China and Germany, with Hans Micklitz, Gerald Spindler, Rainer Metz, Yang Hongfeng, Wang Lei, Wu Dongping, Munchen, Oxford, Baden-Baden (C.H. Beck), 2012, ISBN 978-3-8329-6833-5
Consumer Protection Legislation, with Bernd van der Meulen, in: Encyclopedia of Food and Health, eds. Benjamin Caballero, Paul Finglas, Fidel Toldra, New York, Amsterdam u.a. (Academic Press), 2016, 296-300, ISBN 978-0-12384-947-2
The Virtue of Cassis de Dijon 25 Years Later: It is not Dead, it Just Smells Funny, in: Varieties of European Economic Law and Regulation, ed. Kai Purnhagen and Peter Rott, New York, Heidelberg, Dordrecht u.a. (Springer Science), 2014, ISBN 978-33-190-4902-1, available at http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-04903-8_15
Why Do We Need Responsive Regulation and Behavioural Research in EU Internal Market Law?, in: European Perspectives on Behavioural Law and Economics, ed. Klaus Mathis, New York, Heidelberg, Dordrecht u.a. (Springer Science), 2015, 51-69, available at http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-11635-8_4
Homo Economicus, Behavioural Sciences, and Economic Regulation: On the Concept of Man in Internal Market Regulation and its Normative Basis, with Jens-Uwe Franck, in: Law and Economics in Europe, ed. Klaus Mathis, New York, Heidelberg, Dordrecht u.a. (Springer Science), 2014, 329-365, ISBN 978-94-007-7109-3, available at http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-94-007-7110-9_13
Never the Twain Shall Meet, in: Law and Economics in Europe, ed. Klaus Mathis, New York, Heidelberg, Dordrecht u.a. (Springer Science), 2014, 3-21, ISBN 978-94-007-7109-3, available at http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-007-7110-9_1
The Market State as Foundation of a European Legal Culture, with Ari Afilalo and Dennis Patterson, in: Towards a European Legal Culture, eds. Genevieve Helleringer and Kai Purnhagen, Munchen, Oxford, Baden-Baden (C.H. Beck), 2014, 277-302, ISBN 978-3-406-63420-8.
On the Terms, Relevance and Impact of a European Legal Culture, with Genevieve Helleringer, in: Towards a European Legal Culture, eds. Genevieve Helleringer and Kai Purnhagen, Munchen, Oxford, Baden-Baden (C.H. Beck), 2014, 3-16, ISBN 978-3-406-63420-8.
Articles
The Behaviour of the Average Consumer: A little less normativity and a little more reality in CJEU’s case law?, with Hanna Schebesta, European Law Review, forthcoming 2016.
Reversed Harmonization or Horizontalization of EU Standards? Or: Does WTO Law Facilitate or Constrain the Brussels Effect?, with Dominique Sinopoli, Wisconsin International Law Journal, forthcoming 2016.
"Nudging Germany?", with Lucia Reisch, Zeitschrift fur Europaisches Privatrecht, forthcoming 2016.
Emissions: Dutch government appeals climate law, Nature 526, 506 (22 October 2015), available at http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v526/n7574/full/526506b.html.
Climate law: Dutch decision raises bar, Nature 523, 410 (23 July 2015), available at http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v523/n7561/full/523410d.html.
Mapping Private Regulation – Classification, Market Access and Market Closure Policy, and Law’s Response, 49:2 Journal of World Trade, 2015, 309-324.
The Behavioural Law and Economics of the Precautionary Principle in the EU and its Impact on Internal Market Regulation, in: Cass Sunstein and Lucia Reisch (eds.), Special Issue “Behavioural Economics, Environmental Policy and the Consumer”, 37:3 Journal of Consumer Policy, 2014, 453-464, available at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10603-014-9261-5.
Beyond Threats to Health: May Consumers' Interest in Safety Trump Fundamental Freedoms in Information on Foodstuffs? Reflections on Berger v Freistaat Bayern, 38:5 European Law Review, 2013, 711-719.
Multi-stakeholder responses to the European health claims requirements, with Harry Bremmers and Bernd van der Meulen, 13:2 Journal on Chain and Network Sciences, 2013, 161-172.
United We Stand, Divided We Fall? ‑ Collective Redress in the EU from the Perspective of Insurance Law, 21:2 European Review of Private Law, 2013, 479-506.
The Architecture of Post-National European Contract Law from a Phenomenological Perspective – A Question of Institutions, 77:2 The Rabel Journal of Comparative and International Private Law, 2013.
Principles of European Private or Civil Law? – A Reminder of the Symbiotic Relationship Between the ECJ and the DCFR in a Pluralistic European Private Law, 18:6 European Law Journal, 2012, 844-867.
The Nature of European Citizenship Between Autonomy and Dependency on (Member) State Citizenship - A Comparative Analysis of the Rottmann ruling, or: How to Avoid a European Dred Scott Decision?, with Dennis-Jonathan Mann, 29:3 Wisconsin International Law Journal, 2011, 484-533.
Regulations on E-Commerce Consumer Protection Rules in China and Europe Compared – Same Same but Different?, 3 Journal of Intellectual Property, Information Technology and E-Commerce Law, with Jorg Binding, 2011, 186 para. 1, available at http://www.jipitec.eu/issues/jipitec-2-3-2011/3173/binding_purnhagen.pdf.
