Contributions and limitations of Coasean analysis of property rights for property rights reforms in developing countries

Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Globalization, Political Economics, grade: 69/100, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, language: English, abstract: This essay will attempt to discuss the contributions and limitations of the Coase Theorem on property rights, respectively. Firstly, what Coase¿s analysis of property rights contributes will be shown based on his classic articles, The problem of Social Cost (1960) and The nature of The Firm (1937). Following this, the limitations of Coase¿s analysis of property rights will be discussed through heterodox approaches to property rights reform analysis in developing countries.

The Coase Theorem on property rights was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1991. However, at the same time, over the last decades it has come under criticism from scholars (Schlafly 2007). The theorem proposed by Coase in his article The problem of Social Cost (1960) contributes to frame the analysis of property rights relating to transaction costs within economic discourse. Furthermore, his analysis of property rights greatly influenced new institutional economy (NIE) analysis later on. Nonetheless, Coase¿s analysis of property rights is limited in its application of the analysis of property rights reforms in developing countries for several reasons.