Nobel Prize-Winning Economist, Author. His revolutionary theory of the significance of transaction costs and property rights for the institutional structure and functioning of the economy earned him the Noble Prize in Economic Sciences in 1991. Born outside of London, both of his parents worked in a telegrapher’s office, he was academically-sound and earned a scholarship to the prestigious Kilburn Grammar School. He went onto the London School of Economics and Political Sciences in 1929 and during the years he attended there, he came in contact with Arnold Plant, a Commerce professor who would have a profound impact on his life. He was taught how a competitive economic system could be influenced by the pricing system. In 1937, he wrote the paper “The Nature of the Firm” for which is perhaps his best known achievement. After holding several teaching positions in his native England, Coase moved to the United States in 1951. In 1964, he began a lengthy association with the University of Chicago as Economics professor in addition to serving as the editor of the Journal of Law in Economics. During the course of his career, he penned numerous books notably “The Firm, the Market and the Law” (1988). In 2012 at the age of 101, he co-wrote “How China Became Capitalist”. His death was the result of age-related causes. (bio by: C.S.)