Private Law Theory

ABSTRACT
Bitter Wine was the 23rd episode of the premiere season of the Emmy-nominated Western, Have Gun – Will Travel. Gun-for-hire Paladin settles an externality issue between a small scale vintner and neighboring oilman a la Coase, but two years before Coase’s seminal paper. This 1958 episode acutely portrays the Coasian solution often taught in undergraduate courses. Incorporating this episode into the undergraduate curriculum can serve as a stepping stone for discussing the implications of transaction costs and the Coase Theorem.

Murphy, Jonathan and Schuler, John and Wooten, Jadrian, Have Coase – Will Travel: New Ways to Teach Coase Using Old Media (January 22, 2020).

First posted 2020-02-18 06:30:44