Coase Encounters and Formal Models: Taking Gibbons Seriously

Abstract

While accepting Robert Gibbons' case for the clarifying role of formal models, this comment explores the role of rational choice accounts in organizational settings—including the French example that Gibbons cites—whose context evolves in ways exogenous to the rational action of individuals. Articulation of economic and noneconomic concerns in situations in which context and action evolve together is suggested as the main theoretical goal, one that will require arguments more complex than those of current sociology or economics.