Transaction Costs, Property Rights and Externalities - on the Contribution of R. H. Coase to Economic

The paper discusses the contribution of R. H. Coase to economics and his role as a founder of the new institutional economics. Coase also contributed to the establishment of Law and Economics as a discipline, he is the author of the transaction cost theory and of the Coase Theorem. The paper discusses main aspects of his theory and his core theoretical contributions including more recent ones as well as their impact on the development of the economic theory and economic policy. The role of transaction costs, well established property rights, the institutional framework and the need to relate economic analysis to the real economic development and to overcome the isolation of the formal economic analysis are identifi ed as crucial contributions of Coase to economics relevant for the current stage of the development of economics and economic systems.