The Coase Theorem in One Image (And then the Walter Block response)

The Coase Theorem in One Image (I know I made this tweet before, but I am deliberating including this in class materials). pic.twitter.com/ZsSUTTxedp

— Vincent (Economic History) Geloso (@VincentGeloso) November 21, 2020

Of course, as Dr. Walter Block would surely point out, if the guy getting paid to leave is on the property of the other, therein exists a fundamental problem for the Coase Theorem, it ignores initial respect for private property.

After writing the above sentence, I decided to email Dr. Block, the preeminent Austrian school critic of the Coase Theorem to actually get his thoughts on the tweet.

This is his response:

Dear Bob:

On property rights, Coase’s main “contribution” to economic science, he is worse than the commies. At least the latter has a  theory of property rights: they belonged to the proletariat. For Coase, they shift like a weather vane, depending upon a judges arbitrary opinion of interpersonal comparisons of utility.

Best regards,

Walter

Walter E. Block, Ph.D.

Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair and Professor of Economics      

Loyola University New Orleans

-RW