Ronald Coase was one of those economists whose contributions were so significant and so longstanding that you assumed he had to be dead. But he wasn't, until yesterday, when he died at the age of 102.

Theme of the Lecture: when can institutions not improve efficiency? When can we not improve upon market outcomes? Coase Theorem: Efficiency and Bargaining -- closely related to value maximization.

The US Bank commercial above illustrates an important economic concept known as the “Coase theorem” which says that “if trade in an externality [a blocked view in this example] is possible and there ...

Coase's most famous contribution is the Coase Theorem, which holds that the problem of externalities—that is, me taking an action that imposes a cost on you—can be fixed without government action so ...