WHERE'S COASE?
TRANSACTION COSTS REDUCTION OR RENT-SEEKING IN THE FORMATION OF INSTITUTIONS
GARY LIBECAP
COMMENTS BY P.J. HILL
JANUARY 23, 2025

View the lecture here.

Gary Libecap discusses his forthcoming book, Where's Coase? The Implications of Economic Property Rights or Rent-Seeking in Forming Institutions. The book will be published as part of the Ronald Coase Institute series on new institutional economics with Cambridge University Press.

Ronald Coase examined how economic problems could be addressed efficiently through institutional formation. Despite the benefits he outlined and the vast numbers of citations to his work, his work has not been central to any environmental legislation enacted in the U.S. after 1970.  Libecap asks, Why not? 

To enswer this, Libecap examines U.S. legislation concerning clean air, endangered species, and the fishing industry. He argues that the key impetus shaping this legislation was rent-seeking by politicians, agency officials, and lobby group members, rather than minimizing the transaction costs of defining and enforcing property rights.  In the policy arena, political agents capture policy-based rents rather than efficiency gains.

Following Libecap's talk, P.J. Hill comments on the book. Questions from the audience conclude the lecture.

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  Gary Libecap

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  P.J. Hill

About the Speakers

Gary Libecap is Distinguished Professor, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management and Economics Department, University of California, Santa Barbara (Emeritus), and Research Associate NBER.
P.J. Hill is Professor of Economics Emeritus at Wheaton College and a senior fellow at The Property and Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana.

Video editing is by Jason Hunter.