Editing Ronald Coase (section)

===Law and economics===
[[File:Coase profile 2003.jpg|thumb|Coase at the University of Chicago Law School]]
Though trained as an economist, Coase spent much of his career working in a law school. He is a central figure in the development of the subfield of [[law and economics]]. He viewed law and economics as having two parts, the first "using the economists' approach and concepts to analyze the working of the legal system, often called the economic analysis of the law"; and the second "a study of the influence of the legal system on the working of the economic system."<ref name="LESimpson" /> Coase said that the second part "is the part of law and economics in which I am most interested."

In his Simons Lecture celebrating the centennial of the University of Chicago, titled "Law and Economics at Chicago", Coase noted that he only accidentally wandered into the field:

{{Blockquote | text = It is generally agreed that this article has had an immense influence on legal scholarship, but this was no part of my intention. For me, 'The Problem of Social Cost' was an essay in economics. It was aimed at economists. What I wanted to do was to improve our analysis of the working of the economic system.  Law came into article because, in a regime of positive transaction costs, the character of the law becomes one of the main factors determining the performance of the economy. If transaction costs were zero (as is assumed in standard economic theory) we can imagine people contracting around the law whenever the value of production would be increased by a change in the legal position. But in a regime of positive transaction costs, such contracting would not occur whenever transaction costs were greater than the gain that such a redistribution of rights would bring. As a consequence the rights which individuals possess will commonly be those established by the law, which in these circumstances can be said to control the economy. As I have said, in 'The Problem of Social Cost' I had no intention of making a contribution to legal scholarship. I referred to legal cases because they afforded examples of real situations as against the imaginary ones normally used by economists in their analysis. It was undoubtedly an economist who invented the widget. But in 'The Problem of Social Cost' I did something else. I pointed out that the judges in their opinions often seemed to show a better understanding of the economic problem than did many economists even though their views were not always expressed in a very explicit fashion. I did this not to praise the judges but to shame economists.<ref name="LEChicago" />}}

Despite wandering accidentally into law and economics, the opportunity to edit the Journal of Law and Economics was instrumental in bringing him to the University of Chicago:

{{Blockquote| text = [W]hen I was approached to fill Aaron Director's place on his retirement, what I found most attractive about coming to Chicago was the opportunity it gave me of editing the Journal. Indeed, it is probable that without the Journal I would not have come to Chicago. I knew nothing of the original aim of the Journal. What I wanted to do was to encourage the type of research which I had advocated in 'The Problem of Social Cost', and I used my editorship of the Journal as a means of bringing this about.<ref name="LEChicago">{{cite journal |title=Law and Economics at Chicago |last=Coase |first=R. H. |journal=[[Journal of Law and Economics]] |volume=36 |issue=1 |year=1993 |pages=239–254 |jstor=725475|doi=10.1086/467274 |s2cid=153402423 }}</ref>}}

Coase believed that the University of Chicago was the intellectual center of law and economics. He concluded his Simons lecture by stating:

<blockquote>I am very much aware that, in concentrating in this lecture on law and economics at Chicago, I have neglected other significant contributions to the subject made elsewhere such as those by Guido Calabresi at Yale, by Donald Turner at Harvard, and by others. But it can hardly be denied that in the emergence of the subject of law and economics, Chicago has played a very significant part and one of which the University can be proud.<ref name="LEChicago" /></blockquote>