Which of the following questions most accurately reflects the core of Ronald Coase's investigation into the foundational institutional structure of an economy?

Evaluating Assumptions in Economic Modeling

Analyzing Economic Organization

Evaluating Economic Methodologies

Ronald Coase's investigation into the economy's institutional structure concluded that economists should treat the existing legal and organizational frameworks as fixed parameters in their models, rather than as variables to be explained.

An economist is studying the ride-sharing industry. Instead of only building a model to predict prices based on the existing app-based platform structure, they first investigate questions like: 'Why did this industry organize around large platforms instead of individual drivers contracting directly with passengers?' and 'What legal and technological factors made this organizational form possible and efficient?'. This investigative starting point is fundamentally different from an approach that takes the industry's current structure as a given. What does this economist's initial line of questioning primarily focus on?

An economist influenced by the idea of investigating the foundational institutional structure of an economy would ask certain types of questions when observing economic phenomena. Match each economic phenomenon below with the foundational question that reflects this investigative approach.

Formulating a Foundational Economic Inquiry

Power Dynamics in the Hiring Process

An economist is studying the prevalence of large, publicly-traded corporations in the modern economy. Which of the following research questions best exemplifies an investigation into the economy's foundational institutional structure, rather than an analysis of behavior within the existing structure?