The world has lost an intellectual giant, University of Chicago Economist and 1991 Nobel prize winner in economics Ronald Coase passed away yesterday at the age of 102. Coase is most famous for proposing what has come to be known as “the Coase theorem” which casts what economists call “externalities problems”–air pollution would be an example–in terms of property rights and conflicts over the use of property. He did this in his very famous 1960 Journal of Law and Economics article titled “The Problem of Social Cost.” Back in 1992, shortly after he received his Nobel the Austrian Economics Newsletter published two short articles looking at Coase’s contributions. One is by yours truly where I briefly explain the Coase Theorum and its importance and the other is by Frank Mixon on Coase’s famous article on the lighthouse,  demonstrating how public goods problems can be overcome by free markets. Rather than explain these theories in this blog post I provide the link to this issue of the the AEN here.