Why Is “Stigler’s Coase Theorem” Stiglerian? A Methodological Explanation☆

Alain Marciano

A chapter in Including a Symposium on Bruce Caldwell’sBeyond PositivismAfter 35 Years, 2018, vol. 36A, pp 127-155 from Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Abstract: The Coase theorem is associated with Stigler because Stigler coined the term. The object of this paper is to show that Stigler’s Coase theorem is Stiglerian for deeper – namely, methodological – reasons. We argue that, convinced as he was by the importance of Coase’s message, Stigler also believed that this message – such as presented in “The Federal Communications Commission” (1959) or “The Problem of Social Cost” (1962) – wasnotscientific. Hence, he had to transform it into a theorem to give it a scientific dimension. This is what we try to show by presenting Stigler’s methodology and by confronting it to the methodology used in Coase’s articles.

Keywords: Stigler; Friedman; Coase; Coase theorem; realism; abstraction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:rhetzz:s0743-41542018000036a009

DOI: 10.1108/S0743-41542018000036A009

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