A Study On Posner's Theory Of Wealth Maximization

Richard Allen Posner is one of the most outstanding legal economist in the 20 th century.His whole life is devoted to the study of law economics.On the basis of inheriting Coase's "cost and expense",Posner developed his theory of wealth maximization,which not only caused the change of research methods,but also had a great influence on academic circles.His "Economic Analysis of Law",which applies the method of economic analysis of law to various fields of law,has aroused a lot of great discussion and attracted a lot of criticism.But at the same time,it also makes the method of law and economics widely used.Posner's theory of wealth maximization adopts many dimensions and modifies the relevant theories of neoclassical economics,which is more advanced.But Posner's one-sided pursuit of wealth and efficiency is a reality and is not easily accepted by the legal community.The evaluation of Posner's theory shows a two-level characteristic,but I think that the "superiority" of the argument theory is too absolute,and the most important thing is the question of understanding.By reading Posner's exposition of this theory,a new angle and method of analyzing legal problems can be obtained.The theory of wealth maximization is also dynamic.Under the criticism of many scholars,it has indirectly promoted the research of the method of legal economic analysis and the constant revision of the theory.This paper mainly includes the following three parts:The first part discusses the origin of Posner's wealth maximization theory.The origin is the historical and theoretical background of maximizing the formation of the theory and the basis of the discussion.The theory of wealth maximization can be traced back to institutional economics and further developed with the efforts of Chicago School.Posner was the most representative of the Chicago School,and Becker and Coase had the greatest influence on him.In the early days of the theory of wealth maximization,it was criticized the same as utilitarianism.In order to distinguish it from utilitarianism,his main way is to strengthen the exposition of "wealth","efficiency" and "market" in order to construct the ethical foundation of wealth maximization theory.The second part is the perfection of the theory of wealth maximization.The theory of wealth maximization is based on classical economics,and Posner introduces the theory ofbehavioral economics.Under the collision of behavioral economics and law economics,Posner has perfected and developed the theory of wealth maximization from four dimensions:rational presupposition,utility maximization,stable preference and sufficient information processing ability.The third part discusses Posner's understanding of the interpretation of law in the perspective of the theory of wealth maximization.This part deals with Posner's structure of legal objectivity and the application of legal interpretation.Posner proposed to use the scientific method to the interpretation of the law,"beyond law",to "Disenchantment".When it comes to legal interpretation,Posner refers to the distinction between statute law and common law.In transcending the law,the author puts forward the methods of "looking forward" and "looking backward",that is,using the theory of wealth maximization to quantify the abstract of fairness and justice into concrete "wealth".In disenchantment,it is mentioned that the dilemma of morality can be solved by scientific methods.