Coase on entrepreneurship

Following a short biography of Nobel Laureate economist Ronald H. Coase, this two part interview explores (1) Coase’s life history and thoughts on academic scholarship and (2) Coase’s perspective on the field of entrepreneurship. Coase describes his experiences during his visiting scholarship to America in 1932, early career at the London School of Economics, and government work during World War II. He discusses the virtues of scholarship and the role of technology. In the second part of the interview, Coase views entrepreneurship as a vital source of endogenous change in the economy and outlines the importance of investigating the structure of production, and other important research and policy questions. Coase elaborates on how entrepreneurship has changed over time, and describes his most recent work on entrepreneurship in China. The interview concludes with Coase’s thoughts on the evolution of scholarship and his efforts to advance the field.