Ronald Coase: Old-Fashioned Scholar
通过分析科斯的研究选题、发表成果和教学影响，论证他是20世纪最具影响力的社会科学家之一，其工作深刻影响了新制度经济学和法律研究。
Passing judgement on scholarly research is a very imprecise business. Authoritative measures of the importance of research results are nonexistent. If we are invited to make such assessments, we are inevitably driven to the experts, those who as a result of their own research are recognized as best qualified to render judgement. We need not, however, rely solely on their articulated opinions. We can look at what they do as well, e.g., what subjects they choose for their own research, what gets published in refereed journals, what they teach in their classes, what appears in textbooks, and what is included in curricula. On this score, Ronald Coase must be counted as one of the most influential social scientists of the 20th century. His impact on where he is the patriarch of the burgeoning new institutional economics, has been remarkable. His influence on the study of law could in the long run be even more remarkable. His work has already become an important component of law school curricula and a focus of modern law school research. Coase is an old-fashioned theorist. He approaches economics with a deep sense of its usefulness and significance. He deals with subjects which are central to understanding the social role of institutions. He explores questions which have heretofore been neglected and/or misunderstood. He has clarified important problems and questioned established interpretations. Coase has made three far-reaching propositions an integral part of economics and law.