The Legacy of Ronald Coase in Economic Analysis (Intellectual Legacies in Modern Economic)
Unenumerated (Free subscription) | 10/21/2009
Often in political parlance the phrase "the market" is used quite broadly to cover a wide variety of voluntary economic institutions, including firms, non-profit organizations, families, and so on in addition to markets proper. But traditional neoclassical economics is about ideal markets proper: instantaneous buying and selling on a costless spot exchange. Ronald Coase started expanding...
Dusk in Autumn (Free subscription) | 10/20/2009
This year's winners of the Economics "Nobel" followed up on pioneering work done by a previous Nobelist, Ronald Coase, of whose Big Ideas had to do with why firms exist instead of every individual making market transactions with all others. A firm is a planned collective where some people give orders and most people carry them out. Making sure that this all works out OK is costly. If you...
Robert Salomon's Blog (Free subscription) | 10/13/2009
I was delighted to hear that Oliver Williamson was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics (shared with Elinor Ostrom). Oliver Williamson is recognized for his contribution to the field of Transaction Cost Economics, building on the path-breaking work of scholars like Ronald Coase. Transaction Cost Economics is a central theory in the field of Strategy. It [...]
Acton Institute PowerBlog (Free subscription) | 10/13/2009
My response to the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Economics to Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson was published on National Review Online: Unlike a certain other Nobel Prize, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel actually requires evidence of substantial achievement. Mere aspirations and lofty rhetoric count for nothing. This year’s Nobel Prize in Economics...
OpenMarket (Free subscription) | 10/13/2009
After the weird “future” award to President Obama of the Nobel Peace Prize, another Nobel committee has made a brilliant choice – awarding the Economics prize to Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson. Their work follows the lead of Ronald Coase (himself…
EconomicPolicyJournal.com (Free subscription) | 10/13/2009
In today's WSJ, David Henderson does a nice job explaining the work of Oliver Williamson: Consider Mr. Williamson's work. Drawing on 1991 Nobel laureate Ronald Coase's work on why firms exist, Mr. Williamson showed that these voluntary institutions exist to solve problems that arms-length market transactions have trouble solving.Take, for example, a coal mine that depends on a railroad line to
Cavite Philippines (Free subscription) | 10/13/2009
Elinor Ostrom Oliver Williamson 2009 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences Winner Elinor Ostrom (born August 7, 1933) is an American political scientist. She was awarded the 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, which she shared with Oliver E. Williamson, for "her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons". Elinor Ostrom is the first woman to win the prize in this category...
Urbanomics (Free subscription) | 10/13/2009
By awarding the The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences to Elinor Ostrom "for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons" and to Oliver E. Williamson "for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm", the Nobel Committee may have signalled the return of the political economist to the centerstage of debates on economic issues....
Open IT Strategies (Free subscription) | 10/12/2009
An unusual duo are this year’s winners of the “Nobel” prize in economics (from the Bank of Sweden ). Oliver Williamson has been “future Nobel Prize-winner” since I entered grad school in 1994, for his work on transaction cost economics, i.e. the choice of markets or administrative hierarchies to solve problems. EconLog summarizes his most famous idea while both the Hayek...
Dollars & Sense blog (Free subscription) | 10/12/2009
The Nobel Prize for economics was awarded today to a pair of American professors, Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson. Besides being the first economics Nobel to be awarded to a woman, the choice was notewothy on several other accounts. Both laureates were not considered frontrunners, at least by the London bookies who actually take bets on such things, and both teach at public universities, rather...
The Corner (Free subscription) | 10/12/2009
Unlike a certain other Nobel Prize, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel actually requires evidence of substantial achievement. Mere aspirations and lofty rhetoric count for nothing. This year’s Nobel Prize in Economics has been given to two economists, Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson, who have deepened our understanding of economic governance. More...
Aguanomics (Free subscription) | 10/12/2009
The "Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel"* was awarded to Elinor Ostrom (Indiana University) and Oliver Williamson (UC Berkeley), and I can't be more pleased! Lin Ostrom is a political economist who did her PhD dissertation at UCLA on the institutions of groundwater management. She has gone on to explore and explain why and how communities create and manage...
EconLog (Free subscription) | 10/12/2009
When I was in Bloomington, Indiana last week, Justin Ross and I talked about the "Bloomington school of public choice," meaning Elinor Ostrom. Little did I know that she was about to be awarded a Nobel Prize, along with Oliver Williamson. She is known for looking at ways that private individuals cooperate to manage what we think of as "pubilc goods," or "common pool resources."...
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