You wouldn't think there was a need for a Coase Theorem, really.

I'm no enthusiast for the Coase Theorem. I don't like it, but it's widely used.

I tend to regard the Coase theorem as a stepping stone on the way to an analysis of an economy with positive transaction costs.

You get more irrationality within the family and in consumer behavior than you get, say, in the behavior of firms in their purchases.

Roughly speaking, when you are dealing with business firms operating in a competitive system, you can assume that they're going to act rationally. Why? Because someone in a firm who buys things at $10 and sells them for $8.00 isn't going to last very long in that firm.

There is no doubt that the recognition by economists of the importance of the role of the firm in the functioning of the economy will prompt them to investigate its activities more closely.