Ronald Coase

Ronald Coase (born December 29, 1910) is a British economist. He attended London School of Economics and won the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel in 1991.

Related Topics:
December 29 - 1910 - Economist - London School of Economics - Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel - 1991

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Coase is best known for two articles in particular: The Nature of the Firm (1937), which introduces the concept of transaction costs to explain the size of firms, and The Problem of Social Cost (1960), which suggests that well defined property rights could overcome the problems of externalities (see Coase Theorem).

Related Topics:
Transaction costs - Firm - Externalities - Coase Theorem

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Coase's transaction costs approach is currently influential in modern organizational theory, where it was reintroduced by Oliver E. Williamson.

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Coase is also often referred to as the 'father' of reform in spectrum policy, based on his article The Federal Communications Commission (1959) where he criticizes spectrum licensing, suggesting property rights as a more efficient method of allocating spectrum to users.

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