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

Elodie Bertrand (1)

1 ISJPS - Institut des sciences juridique et philosophique de la Sorbonne - UMR 8103

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).

Mots clés: externalities; Coase; Coase theorem; Pigou

Domaines: Economies et finances; Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences

Elodie Bertrand. The three roles of the 'Coase theorem' in Coase's works. European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2010, 17 (4), pp.975-1000. ⟨10.1080/09672560903552553⟩. ⟨hal-02409115⟩