Property and Legal Institutions
Intermediate
Normative Coase Theorem
A normative proposition that legal rules should be structured to remove obstacles to private bargaining when bargaining is the lowest-cost path to efficient allocation.
Why It Matters
It directs attention from choosing substantive outcomes to lowering transaction costs, clarifying entitlements, and enabling parties to reach value-increasing agreements.
Selected Literature
A short list of directly relevant archive entries.
1960
Introductory
1972
Intermediate
Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Inalienability: One View of the Cathedral
Guido Calabresi and A. Douglas Melamed
Harvard Law Review
2016
Advanced
2019
Advanced
Related Cases
1879
Foundations of Law and Economics
Sturges v. Bridgman
11 Ch. D. 852 (1879)
Nuisance, coming to the nuisance, and reciprocal conflicts over incompatible land uses.