The three roles of the 'Coase theorem' in Coase's works

Elodie Bertrand

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2010, vol. 17, issue 4, 975-1000

Abstract: This article aims at understanding Coase's apparently paradoxical attitude towards his eponym 'theorem'. On the one hand, he judges as excessive the attention devoted to an assertion that makes the assumption of zero transaction costs. On the other, he has never stopped reasserting its largely questioned validity. We explain this puzzle by identifying three roles of the 'Coase theorem' in his works: heuristic (to bring to light the role of transaction costs), critical (of the Pigovian tradition), and normative (Coase derives policy prescriptions).

Keywords: Externalities; Coase; Coase theorem; Pigou (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1080/09672560903552553

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