Publications of Ronald Coase

Books and Pamphlets

Published Balance Sheets as an Aid to Economic Investigation—Some Difficulties(Accounting Research Association, 1938) (with R. S. Edwards and R. F. Fowler).

The Iron and Steel Industry 1926-1935: An Investigation Based on the Accounts of Public Companies, Special Memorandum No. 49 of the London and Cambridge Economic Service (1939) (with R. S. Edwards and R. F. Fowler).

British Broadcasting: A Study in Monopoly (Longmans Green, London; Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1950).

Educational TV: Who Should Pay? Rational Debate Seminars, American Enterprise Institute (1968) (with Edward W. Barrett). Also in Educational Broadcasting Review (April 1968); and Television Quarterly (Winter 1968).

The Firm, the Market, and the Law (University of Chicago Press, 1988). (Foreign editions: Japanese, 1992; Swedish, 1992; Spanish, 1994; Chinese, 1995; Italian, 1995; French, 1997).

Essays on the Institutional Structure of Production (Chinese, Shanghai, 1990).

Essays on Economics and Economists (University of Chicago Press, 1994).
 

Articles

The Problem of Duopoly Reconsidered, 2 Review of Economic Studies 137-143 (1935).

Bacon Production and the Pig-Cycle in Great Britain, 2 Economica (n.s.) 142-147 (1935) (with R. F. Fowler).

The Pig-Cycle: A Rejoinder, 2 Economica (n.s.) 423-428 (1935) (with R. F. Fowler).

The Pig-Cycle in Great Britain: An Explanation, 4 Economica (n.s.) 55 (1937) (with R F. Fowler).

Some Notes on Monopoly Price, 5 Review of Economic Studies 17-31 (1937).

The Nature of the Firm, 4 Economica (n.s.) 386 (1937). Also in American Economic Association, Readings in Price Theory, selected by a Committee of the American Economic Association (1952), and elsewhere.

Business Organization and the Accountant (a series of 12 articles), The Accountant (October–December 1938). Also in Studies in Costing (David Solomons ed., R. D. Irwin Publishers, Homewood, Illinois, 1952); and in a shortened form under the title The Nature of Costs, in Studies in Cost Analysis (David Solomons ed., R. D. Irwin Publishers, Homewood, Illinois, 1968), and elsewhere.

Rowland Hill and the Penny Post, 6 Economica (n.s.) 423-435 (1939).

The Analysis of Producers’ Expectations, 7 Economica (n.s.) 280-292 (1940) (with R. F. Fowler).

Price and Output Policy of State Enterprise: A Comment, 55 Economic Journal 112 (1945).

B.B.C. Enquiry? 176 Spectator 446-447 (1946).

The Marginal Cost Controversy, 13 Economica (n.s.) 169 (1946).

Monopoly Pricing with Interrelated Costs and Demands, 13 Economica (n.s.) 278-284 (1946).

The Marginal Cost Controversy: Some Further Comments, 14 Economica (n.s.) 150 (1947).

The Economics of Uniform Pricing Systems, 15 The Manchester School of Economics and Social Studies 139-156 (1947).

The Origin of the Monopoly of Broadcasting in Great Britain, 14 Economica (n.s.) 189-210 (1947). Also in Reader in Public Opinion and Communication (Free Press, Glencoe, Illinois, 1950).

Wire Broadcasting in Great Britain, 15 Economica (n.s.) 194-220 (1948).

The Nationalization of Electricity Supply in Great Britain, 26 Land Economics 1-16 (1950).

British Television Policy: Questions of Control and Finance, The [London] Times, September 9, 1950.

The B.B.C. Monopoly, Time and Tide, October 7, 1950.

Report on the B.B.C., Time and Tide, January 20, 1951.

The Beveridge Report and Private Enterprise in Broadcasting, The Owl (1951).

The Development of the British Television Service, 30 Land Economics 207-222 (1954).

The Postal Monopoly in Great Britain: An Historical Survey, in Economic Essays in Commemoration of the Dundee School of Economics, 1931-55 25-37 (J. K. Eastham ed., W. Culross, Dundee School of Economics, Dundee, 1955).

The Federal Communications Commission, 2 Journal of Law and Economics 1-40 (1959). Also in the Yearbook of Broadcasting Articles, Anthology
Edition (Federal Publication, Washington DC, 1980) and elsewhere.

The Problem of Social Cost, 3 Journal of Law and Economics 1-44 (1960). Also in Readings in Microeconomics (William Breit and Harold M. Hochman eds, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New York, 1968) and elsewhere.

Why Not Use the Pricing System in the Broadcasting Industry? The Freeman 52-57, July 1961.

The British Post Office and the Messenger Companies, 4 Journal of Law and Economics 12-65 (1961).

The Outreach of Government: At What Point Peril? Analysis, October 1962.

The Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee, 5 Journal of Law and Economics 17-47 (1962).

Evaluation of Public Policy Relating to Radio and Television Broadcasting: Social and Economic Issues, 41 Land Economics 161-167 (1965).

The Economics of Broadcasting and Government Policy, 56 American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings 440 (1966). Also in The Crisis of the Regulatory Commissions (P. W. McAvoy ed., Norton, New York, 1970).

The Theory of Public Utility Pricing, in The Economics of Regulation of Public Utilities 96-106 (Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 1966).

Consumer’s Surplus, in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences 354-358 (Macmillan, New York, 1968).

Social Cost and Public Policy, in Exploring the Frontiers of Administration 33-44 (George A. Edwards ed., York University, 1970).

The Theory of Public Utility Pricing and its Application, 1 Bell Journal of Economics 113 (1970). Also in The Crisis of the Regulatory Commissions (P.W. McAvoy ed., Norton, New York, 1970).

The Auction System and North Sea Gas: A Comment, 13 Journal of Law and Economics 45-47 (1970).

Industrial Organization: A Proposal for Research, in Policy Issues and Research Opportunities in Industrial Organization (Victor R. Fuchs ed., National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, 1972).

Durability and Monopoly, 15 Journal of Law and Economics 143-149 (1972).

The Appointment of Pigou as Marshall’s Successor, 15 Journal of Law and Economics 473-485 (1972).

The Market for Goods and the Market for Ideas, 64 American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings 384 (1974). Also in Price Theory: Selected Readings 559 (Harry Townsend ed., Penguin, Hardwordsworth, 2^nd edn 1980).

Economists and Public Policy, in Large Corporations in a Changing Society 169-187 (J. Fred Weston ed., New York University Press, New York, 1974).

The Lighthouse in Economics, 17 Journal of Law and Economics 357-376 (1974). Also in The Theory of Market Failure 255 (Tyler Cowen ed., George Mason University Press, Washington, DC, 1988).

The Choice of the Institutional Framework: A Comment, 17 Journal of Law and Economics 493-496 (1974).

Marshall on Method, 18 Journal of Law and Economics 25-31 (1975).

Adam Smith’s View of Man, 19 Journal of Law and Economics 529-546 (1976).

Introduction to Francis A. Allen, The Causes of Popular Dissatisfaction with Legal Education, International Institute for Economic Research (Reprint Paper 3, 1977).

The Wealth of Nations. An Address by Professor R. H. Coase. Los Angeles, Foundation for Research in Economics and Education, 1976. Also 15 Economic Inquiry 309-325 (1977).

Advertising and Free Speech, 6 Journal of Legal Studies 1 (1977). Also in Advertising and Free Speech (Allen Hyman and M. Bruce Johnson eds, Lexington Books, Lexington, MA, 1977).

Economics and Contiguous Disciplines, in The Organization and Retrieval of Economic Knowledge 481-491 (Mark Perlman ed., Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1977). Also in 7 Journal of Legal Studies 201 (1978).

Introduction, in Armen Alchian, Economic Forces at Work (Liberty Press, Indianapolis, Indiana,1977).

Economics and Biology: A Comment, 68 American Economic Review 244 (1978).

Payola in Radio and Television Broadcasting, 22 Journal of Law and Economics 269-328 (1979).

Should the Federal Communications Commission Be Abolished?, in Regulation, Economics, and the Law 41 (Bernard H. Siegan ed., Lexington Books, Lexington MA, 1979) (with Nicholas Johnson).

The Coase Theorem and the Empty Core: A Comment, 24 Journal of Law and Economics 183-187 (1981).

Duncan Black: A Biographical Sketch, in Toward a Science of Politics: Essays in Honor of Duncan Black 1-10 (G. Tullock ed., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, 1981).

Economics at LSE in the 1930s: A Personal View, 10 Atlantic Economic Journal 31-34 (1982).

How Should Economists Choose? G. Warren Nutter Lecture in Political Economy (American Enterprise Institute, 1982).

George J. Stigler: An Appreciation, 6 Regulation 21 (1982).

The New Institutional Economics, 140 Zeitschrift für die Gesamte Staatswissenschaft (Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics) 229 (1984).

Alfred Marshall’s Mother and Father, 16 History of Political Economy 519 (1984).

Professor Sir Arnold Plant: His Ideas and Influence, in The Unfinished Agenda, Essays in Honour of Arthur Seldon, 79 (1986).

Arnold Plant, in 3 The New Palgrave, A Dictionary of Economics 891 (John Eatwell, Murray Milgate, and Peter Newman, eds, Macmillan, New York, 1987).

The Nature of the Firm, 1. Origin, 2. Meaning, 3. Influence, 4 Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 3-47 (1988). Reprinted in The Nature of the Firm: Origins, Evolution, and Development (Oliver E.Williamson and Sidney G.Winter, eds, Oxford University Press, 1991).

Blackmail, 74 Virginia Law Review 655 (1988). Also as Occasional Paper No. 24, Law School, University of Chicago (1988).

How Should Economists Choose? In Ideas, Their Origins and Their Consequences: Lectures to Commemorate the Life and Work of G. Warren Nutter 63 (Thomas Jefferson Center Foundation ed., American Institute for Public Policy Research, Washington, DC, 1988).

Alfred Marshall’s Family and Ancestry, in Alfred Marshall in Retrospect (Rita McWilliams Tullberg ed., Edward Elgar, Aldershot, UK, 1990).

Accounting and the Theory of the Firm, 12 Journal of Accounting and Economics 3 (1990).

George J. Stigler, in Remembering the University of Chicago (Edward Shils ed., University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1991).

Contracts and the Activities of Firms, 34 Journal of Law and Economics 451-452 (1991).

The Institutional Structure of Production: The 1991 Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize Lecture in Economic Sciences (Les Prix Nobel and 82 American Economic Review 713-719 (September 1992) and elsewhere).

Coase on Posner on Coase and Concluding Comment, 149 Zeitschrift für die Gesamte Staatswissenschaft (Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics) 96, 360 (1992).

Duncan Black 1908-1991, Proceedings of the British Academy, 82 (1993).

Law and Economics at Chicago, 36 Journal of Law and Economics 239-254 (1993).

My Evolution as an Economist, in Lives of the Laureates 227 (William Brent and Roger W. Spencer eds, the MIT press, Cambridge, MA,1995).

The Present State of Economics, Lecture given at the University of Buckingham 1995.

The Problem of Social Costs: The Citations, 71 Chicago-Kent Law Review 809, (1996).

Law and Economics and A. W. Brian Simpson, Journal of Legal Studies (Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, January 1996).

Foreward, Firms, Organizations and Contracts (Peter J. Buckley and Jonathan Mitchie eds, 1996).

Interview, Reason, January 1997.

Foreward, in Duncan Black, The Theory of Committees and Elections, and in Duncan Black and R.A. Newing, Committee Decisions with Complementary Valuation, revised second edns (Kluwer, Boston, 1998).

Aaron Director, The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law (Paul Newman ed., Macmillan, New York, 1998).

The New Institutional Economics, 88 (2) American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings 72-74 (May 1998).

Comment on Thomas W. Hazlett, Assigning Property Rights to Radio Spectrum Users: Why Did FCC License Auctions Take 67 Years? 41 Journal of Law and Economics 577-580 (1998).

Interview, Context (Fall 1998).

Interview, 2 (1) Newsletter of the International Society for New Institutional Economics 3-10 (Spring 1999).

The Task of the Society, Opening Address to the Annual Conference, September 17, 1999, 2 (2) Newsletter of the International Society for New Institutional Economics 1, 3-6 (Fall 1999).

The Acquisition of Fisher Body by General Motors, 43 Journal of Law and Economics 15-31 (2000).

Why Economics Will Change, 4 (1) Newsletter of the International Society for New Institutional Economics 1, 4-7 (Summer 2002).

The Conduct of Economics: The Example of Fisher Body and General Motors 15 (2) Journal of Economics & Management Strategy 255-278 (Summer 2006).
 

Criticism and Discussion

Discussion of The Trend of Public Employment in Great Britain and the United States, by Moses Abramovitz and Vera Eliasberg, 43 American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings 234 (1953).

Comments on Full Costs, Cost Changes and Prices and Characteristics and Types of Price Discrimination, in Universities’ National Bureau Committee for Economic Research, Business Concentration, and Price Policy (1955).

Discussion of Direct Regulation and Market Performance in the American Economy, by Richard E. Caves, and The Effectiveness of Economic Regulation: A Legal View, by Roger C. Cramton, 54 American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings 194 (1964). Also reprinted in revised form in The Crisis of the Regulatory Commissions (P.W. McAvoy ed., Norton, New York, 1970).

Discussion of "Achieving Efficient Regulation of a Fishery", in Economics of Fisheries Management: A Symposium (A. D. Scott ed., University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 1970).

Participation in a discussion by University of Chicago faculty members, Center for Policy Study, "The Legal and Economic Aspects of Pollution," University of Chicago, 1970.

Comment on The Muted Voice of the Consumer in Regulatory Agencies, by Colston E. Warne, in A Critique of Administrative Regulation of Public Utilities (W. J. Samuels and H. M. Trebing eds, East Lansing Institution of Public Utilities, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 1972).

Comment on Cheung On the New Institutional Economics and Panel Discussion Remarks in Contract Economics (Lars Werin and Hans Wijkander eds, Blackwell, Oxford and Cambridge, 1992).

Roundtable Discussion, “The Future of Law and Economics,” 64 The University of Chicago Law Review 1132, (Fall 1997).
 

Position Papers

Report by President Nixon’s Task Force on Productivity and Competition (George Stigler, Chairman 1969).

Working Paper for the Task Force on Productivity and Competition: The Conglomerate Merger 115 Congressional Record 15932,15938 (June 16, 1969). Also in 1 Small Business and the Robinson-Patman Act, Hearings before the Special Subcommittee on Small Business, 91^st Congress, 1^st session, appendix (October 7-9, 1969).

United States Policy Regarding the Law of the Seas, in Mineral Resources of the Deep Seabed, part 2, Hearings before the Subcommittee on Minerals, Materials and Fuels of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 93^rd Congress, 2d session, at 1160 (March 5, 6, and 11, 1974).

Reviews

Reviewed Work: The Role of Mergers in the Growth of Large Firms by J. Fred Weston, 44 The American Economic Review 203-204 (1954).

Reviewed Work: Competition and Monopoly in Public Utility Industries by B. N. Behling, 49 The Economic Journal 757-758 (1939).

Reviewed Work: Report of the Committee on Prices in the Bituminous Coal Industry, 6 (n.s.) Economica 480 (1939).

Reviewed Work: Monopoly and Competition in the English Coal Trade 1550-1850 by Paul M. Sweezy, 6 (n.s.) Economica 480-481 (1939).

Reviewed Work: Trade Revival in a Depressed Area by D. Caradog Jones , 6 (n.s.) Economica 232 (1939).

Reviewed Work: The British Gas Industry: An Economic Study by Philip Chantler, 48 The Economic Journal 727-728 (1938).

Reviewed Work: British Experiments in Public Ownership and Control by Terence H. O'Brien, 5 (n.s.) Economica 485-487 (1938).

Reviewed Work: The Framework of the Pricing System by E. H. Phelps Brown, 4 (n.s.) Economica 476-477 (1937).

Reviewed Work: Earnings of Skilled Workers in a Manufacturing Enterprise, 1878-1930 by E. B. Alderfer, 4 (n.s.) Economica 115-116 (1937).

Consumer Behavior, 32-minute videotaped discussion between Ronald Coase and Gary Becker, The Idea Channel, 1995.

Transition in Eastern Europe, 30-minute videotaped discussion between Ronald Coase and Gary Becker, The Idea Channel, 1995.

A Conversation with Ronald H. Coase, 62-minute videotaped interview conducted by Richard A. Epstein, The Intellectual Portrait Series, The Liberty Fund Inc., 2002.

Centennial Coase Lecture, videotaped lecture by Ronald Coase at the University of Chicago Law School, April 1, 2003.


Note:  Compiled July 2000, with the kind cooperation of Ronald Coase, and updated June 2006. The authoritative bibliography in print appears in Institutions, Contracts and Organizations, 59-65, Claude Ménard ed., (Edward Elgar, Northfield, MA, 2000).  It is slightly augmented by the list here, compiled by Alexandra Benham, which includes some additional material plus handwritten notes made by Ronald Coase on an earlier bibliography of his published in 26 (2) Journal of Law and Economics (April 1983).  The reviews listed are those available on JSTOR, the scholarly journal archive, as of October 2005.