Transaction-Cost Utopias Reconsidered

The Coasean revolution isn't going according to plan

Around the turn of the century, the then-obscure economist Ronald Coase (who won the Nobel in 1991) enjoyed a sudden elevation to pop-celebrity status as his ideas about transaction costs, social costs, and the nature of the firm were incorporated into trendy arguments about the unfolding impact of the internet. I wasn’t immune to the kool-aid. I wrote …