Leaders | The economics of companies

The man who showed why firms exist

Anyone who cares about capitalism and economics should mourn the death of Ronald Coase

THE job of clever people is to ask difficult questions. The job of very clever people is to ask deceptively simple ones. Eighty years ago a young British economist wondered: why do companies exist? The answer that he gave remains as fascinating today as it was back then.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “The man who showed why firms exist”

Fight this war, not the last one

From the September 7th 2013 edition

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