University Of Chicago And Economics Of Law

"Economics of Law", also called "Economic Analysis of Law" and " Law and Economics", is a young and fast-developing interdisciplinary subject. Now people attach more and more importance to it for its relatively complete theory, original research methods and practical value, and the range it has an effect on has been increasingly expanding. The brief introduction of the development of law and economics Chicago school is of great theoretical and practical importance for Chinese economists to study China's economy in transition and for law researchers to study juridical reforms in China.Economics of Law applies the economic theories and ways to analyze laws and institutions. This thesis first discusses different definitions of economics of law, points out that classical political economics established by Adam Smith, German historical school, and American institutional economics, etc are theoretical origins of modern economics of law, and introduces why and how economic theory and rules can be applied to law research. And then this thesis describes the development of old law and economics at University of Chicago and introduces the fundamental contributions made by Simons and Director.The leading exponents of Law and Economics are listed as follows: Ronald Coase, Guido Calabresi, Gary Becker, and Richard Posner, etc. Of these scholars, Ronald Coase and Richard Posner whom this thesis will emphasize are the most influential. Coase is the founder of new law and economics. In spite of his few papers, his two articles —The Nature of the Firm and The Problem of Social Cost initiated the economic approaches to law rights and liabilities. The 4^th part of this thesis talks about the inner economic logic disclosed by Coase in the whole law system—transaction cost and Coase Theorem. This theorem holds the key to understanding law system through efficiency rule, and also lays the theoretical basis for law and economics.Besides that, Posner also plays a leading role in the American Law and Economics Movement and has made tremendous contributions to the development of Law and Economics theory. This thesis, based on the introduction of Posner and his...