Essays on Economics and Economists [Paperback]

R. H. Coase (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226111032 | ISBN-13: 978-0226111032 | Publication Date: September 1, 1995

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 of outstanding figures, including Adam Smith, Alfred Marshall, Arnold Plant, Duncan Black, and George Stigler, as well as economists at the London School of Economics in the 1930s.

Ronald H. Coase was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Science in 1991.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This is a series of 15 essays written by the 1991 Nobel laureate in economics. Unlike most such collections, the essays are not primarily about Coase's work. The first half of the book contains essays on methodology: what economists do and how they do it. Coase's explanations are thought-provoking. As Coase demonstrates, economics in its theoretical and empirical work is more normative than most economists would prefer to believe. Simple principles are often ignored, replaced by complex ones beyond the ken of economics. The remaining essays are biographical sketches that focus primarily on famous English economists such as Adam Smith and Alfred Marshall. These essays provide insight into the roots of modern economics. Recommended for large university libraries as an accessible collection by a renowned economist.
- Richard C. Schiming, Mankato State Univ., Minn.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 231 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (September 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226111032
• ISBN-13: 978-0226111032
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #406,668 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must read for anyone interested in economics, November 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Essays on Economics and Economists (Paperback)

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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More from this off-the-beaten-path economist!, March 1, 2001

By 

Mag Harald W. Stieber (Vienna, Austria) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Essays on Economics and Economists (Paperback)

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...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Coase's thoughts on the discipline and its disciples., July 1, 2004

By 

MrSherlockHolmes - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essays on Economics and Economists (Paperback)

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.