Posner, Richard A. (1939-)

Richard A. Posner is a judge and a legal theorist. Posner is a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, and the leader of the modern law and economics movement.

Posner held a variety of positions in the Johnson administration and taught at Stanford University before joining the Chicago faculty in 1969. At Chicago, he participated in George Stigler's famous Industrial Organization Workshop, and he developed close ties with many members of the economics department. He soon began using the tools of neoclassical economics to analyze legal issues, and in 1973, Posner published his textbook, Economic Analysis of Law. That book has become a classic and is now in its sixth edition.

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