Essays on Economics and Economists

by Ronald H. Coase

Book Overview

How do economists decide what questions to address and how to choose their theories? How do they tackle the problems of the economic system and give advice on public policy? With these broad questions, Nobel laureate R. H. Coase, widely recognized for his seminal work on transaction costs, reflects on some of the most fundamental concerns of economists over the past two centuries.

In fifteen essays, Coase evaluates the contributions of a number...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226111032
• ISBN13: 9780226111032
• Release Date: September 1995
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 231 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Coase's thoughts on the discipline and its disciples.

Ronald Coase, apart from his economic genius, is an excellent writer. In this series of essays Coase traverses a wide range of topics in the discipline from what part economists should play in public policy to who Alfred Marshall's Uncle was. As the title of the book suggests, the first seven essays deal with economics, and Coase's views on it. The essays are short, witty (some of them) and never dull. What Coase has to say on "How should Economists choose" is a must read as he deals with `truth' in the discipline. Is economics the `King' of the social sciences? Coase has something to say on that as well in "Economics and Contiguous Disciplines" and there are 5 other essays in this section.The next part deals with the lives of some economists, mostly those whom Coase knew personally from England: Marshall, Plant, Black, Pigou & Stigler. The first two essays in this section deal with Marshall's ancestry and are the least interesting essays in the whole book as Coase becomes Sherlock Holmes, seeking out Marshall's true origins. Not particularly interesting stuff. The other essays in this section dealing with economists and the LSE are far more interesting as they give you glimpses of the lives of these great thinkers.A good short read, recommended.

More from this off-the-beaten-path economist!

If you liked "The Firm, the Market, and the Law" you will like this one even more. Coase gives away insider information about some of the best economists of this century. As always his style is much too literate for an economist, but so much fun to read. Although Coase himself does not use any formal arguments, his most challenging case for an economic theory build around the concept of transaction costs seems to have been to difficult to tackle for the so-called pure theorists...

A must read for anyone interested in economics

This book is a collection of eassys by Coase. Begin with his Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize lecture, the first five essays express Coase's view on the practice of economics and how economist should go about their business. The remaining 10 essays are about economist, from Adam Smith to Goerge Stigler. Few economists, dead or alive, know more about the economic system than Coase does. These essays give you an introduction to the great mind of this great economist as well as an unconventional, yet more sensible than conventional, view of the economic system. A must read.