War Statistician

Diary Entry: February 25, 2025

Okay, this is almost getting comical. I’m digging into Coase’s professional history, and guess where he worked during World War II?

At the Central Statistical Office of the War Cabinet.

He was a statistician for the British government during the war.

And for some reason, I’m not even surprised. Of course he did.

Let’s recap: The man everyone thinks is the ultimate free-market, anti-government libertarian... started as a socialist, got special access to top American CEOs as a 21-year-old, spent his career as the chief editor of the Journal of Law and Economics, and... also worked for the British War Cabinet.

It’s just one thing after another. The “libertarian champion” narrative is becoming harder and harder to believe. This guy seems to have spent his entire life working for, with, or inside the very systems of centralized power everyone claims he wanted to dismantle.

Why am I not surprised?