The Elgar Companion To Transaction Cost Economics

‘Not too long ago it was possible to be familiar with all of the important works and latest developments in transaction cost economics. That that is no longer the case is a testament to the intellectual appeal and empirical success of the transaction cost approach. For newcomers, the entries in this volume, by some of TCE’s most knowledgeable and eloquent contributors, offer an excellent introduction to the issues, methods, discoveries, and debates in the field; for veterans, the volume provides a highly valuable resource for catching up on the newest research.’
– Scott E. Masten, University of Michigan School of Business, US

Since its emergence in the 1970s, transaction cost economics (TCE) has become a leading approach in the research on contracts, firm organization and strategy, antitrust, marketing, inter-firm collaboration and entrepreneurship. With contributions by leading scholars in economics, law and business administration – including Oliver E. Williamson, recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in economics for his development of the transaction cost approach – this volume reviews the latest developments in TCE and applies them to contemporary theoretical and empirical problems.

Beginning with an introductory essay by the editors, the book covers precursors and influences, core concepts, applications, alternatives and critiques. The contributing authors describe, extend and assess the transaction cost approach to economic organization, and examine the role of TCE in the larger legal, economic, and managerial literatures on organizations and institutions. An original and comprehensive volume, the Companion introduces the novice and informs the specialist about TCE’s fundamental elements, recent controversies and new developments.

An accessible and astute delineation of how transaction cost economics offers important and unique insights into key organizational, managerial and societal issues of our day, the Companion will be of particular interest to practitioners of business law and antitrust, corporate executives and management consultants. Additionally, academic researchers, scholars and students of economics, business and law will find it an invaluable reference.

Contents:

PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Editors’ Introduction
Peter G. Klein and Michael E. Sykuta

2. Transaction Cost Economics: An Overview
Oliver E. Williamson

3. Transaction Cost Economics and the New Institutional Economics
Peter G. Klein

PART II: PRECURSORS AND INFLUENCES
4. Ronald H. Coase
Michael E. Sykuta

5. Cyert, March, and the Carnegie School
Mie Augier

6. Chester Barnard
Joseph T. Mahoney

7. Commons, Hurst, Macaulay, and the Wisconsin Legal Tradition
D. Gordon Smith

8. F.A. Hayek
Peter G. Klein

9. Herbert Simon
Saras Sarasvathy

10. Property Rights Economics
Nicolai J. Foss

PART III: FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS
11. The Costs of Exchange
Alexandra Benham and Lee Benham

12. Asset Specificity and Holdups
Benjamin Klein

13. The Transaction as the Unit of Analysis
Nicholas Argyres

14. Bounded Rationality and Organizational Economics
Nicolai J. Foss

15. Economizing and Strategizing
Jackson A. Nickerson and James C. Yen

16. Empirical Methods in Transaction Cost Economics
Michael E. Sykuta

PART IV: APPLICATIONS
17. Vertical Integration
Peter G. Klein

18. Hybrid Organizations
Claude Ménard

19. Franchising
Steven C. Michael

20. The Structure of Franchise Contracts
Emmanuel Raynaud

21. Strategy and Transaction Costs
Laura Poppo

22. Labour Economics and Human Resource Management
Bruce A. Rayton

23. The Chicago School, Transaction Cost Economics, and Antitrust
Joshua D. Wright

24. Financial-Market Contracting
Dean V. Williamson

PART V: ALTERNATIVES AND CRITIQUES
25. Critiques of Transaction Cost Economics: An Overview
Nicolai J. Foss and Peter G. Klein

26. Subjectivism, Understanding, and Transaction Costs
Fu-Lai Tony Yu

27. Austrian Economics and the Theory of the Firm
Nicolai J. Foss and Peter G. Klein

28. Limits of Transaction Cost Analysis
Geoffrey M. Hodgson

Index