Ronald H. Coase converted all 21 members of the economics department to his position in an after-dinner meeting. They hired him.
His argument, published as "The Problem of Social Cost" in The Journal of Law and Economics in 1960, is the most widely cited academic article in the field of economics.
As far as I know, my 1992 book, The Coase Theorem: A Study in Economic Epistemology, was the first book-long attack on his theorem. As of November 2010, when I searched Google for "Coase Theorem," my book was the tenth entry on page 1, the only book on the topic. But maybe this is not true for your search.
His main error was to assume that ethics has no role to play in economic theory. His second crucial error was to ignore delibarately the economic relevance of an owner's sense of outrage at theft or deliberate damage of his property. His third major error was to assume that judges can scientifically assess economic value in a scientific way. This led him to conclude that a judge should decide who has the right to pollute (or cause any other damage) by means of a scientifically valid assessment of which activity benefits society most: the avoidance of damage vs. the initiation of damage. The initiator of damage should be granted an equal legal right to inflict damage as the victim has to avoid damage.
This article is considered one of the most brilliant ever written by an an economist, and is widely cited.
This gives you some indication on the state of moral insight and intellectual prowess of the academic economics profession.
The book has been in print ever since 1992. I sent 100 free copies to major economcs departments the year after he won the Nobel Prize. I have never seen a response to it in any academic journal. Coase is still alive as of November 2010. I sent him a copy in 1992. He has never responded. A short version of my book was published as a scholarly article here. It was ignored.
Download the book here:
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