About Ronald Coase

For his discovery and clarification of the significance of transaction costs and property rights for the institutional structure and functioning of the economy, Ronald Coase received the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1991.

Professor Coase was Clifton R. Musser Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Chicago Law School. He was affiliated with the University of Chicago from 1964 on. Earlier he served on the faculty of the Dundee School of Economics and Commerce (1932-1934), the University of Liverpool (1934-1935), the London School of Economics (1935-1951), the University of Buffalo (1951-1958), and the University of Virginia (1958-1964).

He was editor of the Journal of Law and Economics (1964-1982). He was the founding president of the International Society for New Institutional Economics (1996-97). He was the research advisor to the Ronald Coase Institute.

As I see it, progress in understanding the working of the economic system will come from an interplay between theory and empirical work. The theory suggests what empirical work might be fruitful, the subsequent empirical work suggests what modification in the theory or rethinking is needed, which in turn leads to new empirical work. If rightly done, scientific research is a never-ending process, but one that leads to greater understanding at each stage.

- The Conduct of Economics: The Example of Fisher Body and General Motors, 2006

See list of online materials by and about Ronald Coase described by an eminent legal scholar as "a terrific set of links."