The Problem of Epistemic Cost: Why Do Economists Not Change their Minds (About the ‘Coase Theorem’)?
American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 72, No. 5, 2013
Posted: 29 Oct 2012
Date Written: November 2013
Abstract
Errors in the history of economic analysis often remain uncorrected for long periods due to positive epistemic costs (PEC) involved in allocating time to going back over what older generations wrote. In order to demonstrate this in a case study, the economists’ practice of the 'Coase Theorem' is reconsidered from a PEC point of view.
Keywords: epistemic costs, intellectual path dependence, ideologization, the 'Coase Theorem,' 'The Problem of Social Cost' (1960)
JEL Classification: B25, B41, B52
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Yalcintas, Altug, The Problem of Epistemic Cost: Why Do Economists Not Change their Minds (About the ‘Coase Theorem’)? (November 2013). American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 72, No. 5, 2013, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2167821
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