13 November 2013
Seminar pays tribute to Nobel Laureate
A seminar at the University of Dundee next week will pay tribute to the recently deceased Nobel Laureate Ronald Coase,
whose illustrious career in economics began in the city.
The 18th Scottish Centre of Economic Methodology (SCEME) seminar, entitled 'Origins of the Theory of the Firm: Ronald
Coase at Dundee, 1932-1934' will be hosted by the University's School of Business on Monday, 18th November 2013. It will mark
the huge contribution made by to the field by Coase, a founding lecturer of the Dundee School of Economics and Commerce,
which subsequently became part of the University.
Ronald Coase was one of the world's most influential economists whose work had a profound and lasting impact on public
policy and on the study of economics and of law. He served on the faculty at the Dundee School from 1932-1934 and wrote
the manuscript of 'The Nature of the Firm', one of his best-known works, during the years he lectured in Scotland.
'Ronald Coase was a true giant of economics and we are justly proud of our links with him here at Dundee,' said Professor
Matthias Klaes, Dean of the School of Business. 'It is only right that we pay tribute to someone who made such a contribution
to the field by examining how he changed our understanding of many aspects of economic interaction.
'The seminar will explore the genesis and subsequent impact of 'The Nature of the Firm' in the various dimensions of
its Dundee context and origins, both in a historiographical and methodological sense. It will feature papers from
academics from economists, historians and academics from other fields based both here at Dundee and at other institutions
across the UK and beyond.'
Coase received the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1991 for his work on the significance of
transaction costs and property rights for the institutional structure and functioning of the economy. Seen by many
as having laid the intellectual foundations for the rise of broadcasting license auctions and of carbon trading, Coase
continued to publish research almost right up until his death.
He was awarded an honorary degree in 1992, 60 years after he came to Dundee to take up an assistant lectureship.
While the Dundee School was initially set up as an independent institution, it marked the beginning of the study of
modern economics in Dundee and as such has played a significant role in shaping the development of Economic Studies
in the University to the present day.
The Scottish Centre for Economic Methodology (SCEME), based at the University, aims to further debate and research
in economic methodology in Scotland and beyond. Core activities include coordination and support of joint research
activities in economic methodology and related fields of inquiry. This includes the organisation of a longstanding international
workshop series on current topics in economic methodology, with proceedings and symposia regularly published in various outlets.
Limited places are available for 'Origins of the Theory of the Firm: Ronald Coase at Dundee, 1932-1934', and can be
booked by contacting Jenny Eades on j.a.eades@dundee.ac.uk.
More information is available
from www.dundee.ac.uk/business/research/sceme/events/.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277 |
