The Nature of the Firm. Origins, Evolution and Development.

. Ed(s): Williamson, Oliver E.; Winter, Sidney G.; Coase, Ronald H. (University of Chicago Law School, Illinois, USA)

ISBN 10: 0195083563 / ISBN 13: 9780195083569

Published by Oxford University Press Inc, 1993

About this Item

This volume features a series of essays which arose from a conference on economics, addressing the question: what is the nature of the firm in economic analysis? This paperback edition includes the Nobel Lecture of R.N. Case. Editor(s): Williamson, Oliver E.; Winter, Sidney G.; Coase, Ronald H. (University of Chicago Law School, Illinois, USA). Num Pages: 256 pages, tables. BIC Classification: KCC. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational. Dimension: 229 x 153 x 18. Weight in Grams: 366. . 1993. Paperback. . . . .

Seller Inventory # V9780195083569

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Nature of the Firm. Origins, Evolution and Development.
• Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
• Publication Date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195083563
• ISBN 13: 9780195083569
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

In 1937, Ronald H. Coase published "The Nature of the Firm," a classic paper that raised fundamental questions about the concept of the firm in economic theory. Coase proposed that the comparative costs of organizing transactions through markets rather than within firms are the primary determinants of the size and scope of firms. Coase won the 1991 Nobel Prize in Economics for this work. This volume derives from a conference held in 1987 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Coase's classic article. The first chapter affords an overview of the volume. It is followed by a republication of the 1937 article, and by the three lectures Coase presented at the conference. These lectures provide a lively and informative history of the origins and development of his thought. Subsequent chapters explore a wide-range of theoretical and empirical issues that have arisen in the transaction cost economic tradition. They illustrate the power of the transaction cost approach to enhance understanding not only of business firms, but of problems of economic organization generally. In addition to Coase's work, contributors include Sherwin Rosen, Paul Joskow, Oliver Hart, Harold Demsetz, Scott Masten, Benjamin Klein, as well as the volume's editors, Oliver E. Williamson, and Sidney G. Winter. The Nature of the Firm includes Coase's acceptance speech for his Nobel Prize in Economics.

About the Author

Oliver E. Williamson is at University of California, Berkeley. Sidney G. Winter is at United States General Accounting Office, Washington DC.