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1、ECONOMICSANDCONTIGUOUSDISCIPLINES*RONALDH.COASE**WISHtostartwithtwogeneralobservations.First,whatIhavetosayislargelybasedonmyknowledgeofdevelopmentswithintheUnitedStatesandBritain.ButIhavesufficientconfidenceintheinternationalcharacterofsciencetobeliev
2、ethatwhatcanbeobservedinthesecountriesisparalleledbysimilardevelopmentselsewhere.Mysecondobservationisthatapaperwhichdealswithwhatishappeningwithinaseriesofdisciplinesandwhichrangessowidelywithineconomicsitself,mustinevitablymean,atanyrateinmycase,that
3、itdealswithmanysubjectsaboutwhichthewriter'sknowl-edgeisextremelyvague.WhatIhavetosaywilloftenhavethecharacterofassertionratherthanofaconclusionbasedonacarefulstudyoftheliteratureinthemanyfieldscoveredbymysubject.Ibelievethatsuchacarefulstudywouldconfi
4、rmwhatIassert.Butitisequallytruethatitmayrefutemyviews.Paperspresentedatinternationalconferencesarenotusuallyhigh-riskventures,butthisoneis.However,Idonotthinkwhatiscalledforatthisstageisapaperguardedbyqualificationsanddifficulttoattackbecauseitsayssol
5、ittleexceptwhatisgenerallyaccepted.WhatisthesubjectwithwhichIamdealing?WhatIamconcernedwithiswhatdeterminestheboundariesbetweendisciplines,inparticularwithwhatdeterminestheboundariesbetweeneconomicsandtheothersocialsciences:sociology,politicalscience,p
6、sychologyandthelike(withoutexcludingthepossibilitythattheremaybeoverlaps).Whattheboundariesareatanyparticulartimecan,ofcourse,bediscoveredbyexaminingtherangeofactivitiesengagedinbymembersofanygivenprofessionalassociation,bythesubjectstreatedinthejourna
7、lsdevotedtoparticulardisciplines,bythecoursesgiveninuniversitydepartments,bythetopicscoveredintextbooksandbythebookscollectedinlibrariesconcernedwiththevariousareasofknowledge.Aforecastoftheboundariesofadisciplineis,thus,aforecastofwhattopicswillbecove
8、redbyprofessionalassociations,journals,libraries*ThispaperwaspresentedataconferenceheldbytheInternationalEconomicAssociationatKiel,WestGermanyin1975.Itwasoriginallypublishedintheproceedingsoftheconference,TheOrganizationandRetrievalofEc
