Hovenkamp on Coase, Institutionalism, and the Origins of Law and Economics

Posted by Mary L. Dudziak on the Legal History Blog

Coase, Institutionalism, and the Origins of Law and Economics has just been posted by Herbert J. Hovenkamp, University of Iowa College of Law. Here's the abstract:

Ronald Coase merged two traditions in economics, marginalism and institutionalism. Neoclassical economics in the 1930s was characterized by an abstract conception of marginalism and frictionless resource movement. Marginal analysis did not seek to uncover the source of individual human preference, but accepted preference as given. It treated the business firm in the same way, focusing on how firms make market choices, but saying little about their internal workings.

“Institutionalism” historically refers to a group of economists who wrote mainly in the 1920s and 1930s.

read more ...
AIDC WebSite Comparative Law News