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Understanding The Problem of Social Cost

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  • FRISCHMANN, BRETT M.
  • MARCIANO, ALAIN

Abstract

Coase always expressed dissatisfaction with neo-classical economics and advocated for a new approach. Rather than using toy mathematical models built from unrealistic, idealized assumptions, Coase preferred to study real-world contexts, including actual legal cases. He demonstrated the utility of his approach in ‘The Problem of Social Cost’. Yet almost all of Coase's contemporaries completely ignored, Coase's call for a new approach and his sustained use of legal cases to illustrate his arguments and to situate his analysis in reality. In this paper, we show that the profession interpreted Coase's seminal article exactly the opposite of what he had intended, and reduced his analytical contributions to a toy model of the exact sort he was criticizing. This ironic history of the most cited article both in law and in economics helps us understand the development of ideas within both fields and how disciplinary blinders shape intellectual progress.

Suggested Citation

  • Frischmann, Brett M. & Marciano, Alain, 2015. "Understanding The Problem of Social Cost," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 329-352, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jinsec:v:11:y:2015:i:02:p:329-352_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Alain Marciano, 2019. "Ronald H. Coase (1910–2013)," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Robert A. Cord (ed.), The Palgrave Companion to LSE Economics, chapter 0, pages 555-577, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Elodie Bertrand, 2015. "From the Firm to Economic Policy: The Problem of Coase's Cost," Post-Print hal-03512866, HAL.
    3. Rosolino A. Candela & Vincent Geloso, 2019. "Coase and transaction costs reconsidered: the case of the English lighthouse system," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 331-349, December.
    4. Meramveliotakis, Giorgos, 2023. "Reciprocity principle and private property rights in land: Coasean world is neither neoclassical nor capitalist," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    5. Alain Marciano & Steve G. Medema, 2018. "Disciplinary Collisions: Blum, Kalven, and the Economic Analysis of Accident Law at Chicago in the 1960s," Post-Print hal-01836082, HAL.

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