Ronald H. Coase, a British-born University of Chicago law professor who in 1991 won the Nobel Prize in economics, produced a slender but influential body of work that advocated the application of economic tools to legal analysis.

Mr. Coase, 102, died of heart failure Monday, Sept. 2, at St. Joseph Hospital in Chicago, said his caregiver, Rosie Olchefski. He had been in the hospital since late July and had suffered from pneumonia, she said. He was a resident of Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood.

"He was a giant in the field — no question," said U. of C. economics professor Gary Becker, also a Nobel laureate. "Early on he had a big influence on the legal field, and eventually he began to get a bigger influence on economics. He was clearly a pioneer in the field of law and economics."

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