Oliver E. Williamson (born September 27, 1932) is a prominent author in the area of transaction cost economics, a student of Ronald Coase and Herbert Simon. Prof. Williamson received his Bachelor of Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1955, M.B.A. from Stanford University in 1960, and his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in 1963. He has held professorships in business administration, economics, and law at University of California, Berkeley since 1988. September 27 is the 270th day of the year (271st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 95 days remaining. ... 1932 (MCMXXXII) is a leap year starting on a Friday. ... In economics and related disciplines, a transaction cost is a cost incurred in making an economic exchange. ... Ronald Coase (born December 29, 1910) is a British economist. ... Herbert Alexander Simon (June 15, 1916 – February 9, 2001) was a researcher in the fields of cognitive psychology, computer science, public administration, economics and philosophy (sometimes described as a polymath). ... A Bachelor of Science (B.S., B.Sc. ... The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a university located in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT is one of the worlds leading research institutions in science and technology, as well as in numerous other fields, including management, economics, linguistics, political science, and philosophy. ... Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a tertiary degree in business management. ... For other meanings of Stanford, see Stanford (disambiguation). ... Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. ... Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (also known as California, Cal, UCB, UC Berkeley, The University of California, or simply Berkeley) is a public coeducational university situated east of the San Francisco Bay in Berkeley, California, overlooking the Golden Gate. ...

His focus on the costs of transactions have led Williamson to distinguish between repeated case-by-case bargaining on the one hand and relationship-specific contracts on the other. For example, the repeated purchasing of coal from a spot market to meet the daily or weekly needs of an electric utility would represent case by case bargaining. But over time, the utility is likely to form ongoing relationships with a specific supplier, and the economics of the relationship-specific dealings will be importantly different, he has argued. Transmission lines in Lund, Sweden Electric power, often known as power or electricity, involves the production and delivery of electrical energy in sufficient quantities to operate domestic appliances, office equipment, industrial machinery and provide sufficient energy for both domestic and commercial lighting, heating, cooking and industrial processes. ...

Other economists have tested Williamson's transation-cost theories in empirical contexts. One important example is a paper by Paul L. Joskow, "Contract Duration and Relationship-Specific Investments: Empirical Evidence from Coal Markets," in American Economic Review, March 1987. A contract is any legally-enforceable promise or set of promises made between parties. ... Coal is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by underground mining or open-pit mining (strip mining). ... Chichicastenango, Guatemala traditional market Market stall in internally displaced persons camp in Kitgum, northern Uganda Mercado dos Lavradores, Funchal (Madeira Islands) A market is a mechanism which allows people to trade, normally governed by the theory of supply and demand. ... The American Economic Review (AER) is a quarterly journal of economics published by the American Economic Association. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Awards, fellowships

• Horst Claus Rechtenwald Prize in Economics, 2004.
• Fellow, American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1997.
• Member, National Academy of Sciences, 1994.
• Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1983.
• Fellow, Econometric Society, 1977.
• Alexander Henderson Award, 1962.

President Harding and the National Academy of Sciences at the White House, Washington, DC, April 1921 The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine. ... The House of the Academy, Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... In alphabetical order Current Fellows Andrew B. Abel (1991) Dilip Abreu (1991) Irma Adelman (1968) ... George Akerlof (1979) Alberto F. Alesina (2002) Maurice Allais (1949) ... Robert Aumann (1965) Costas Azariadis (1989) Yves Balasko (1980) ... Clive W. J. Granger (1972) Edward J. Green (1987) Jerry R. Green (1975) ... Anne O. Krueger... The Alexander Henderson Award is presented to the student at the Tepper School of Business (fmr. ...

Books

• The Mechanisms of Governance ISBN 0195132602
• The Economic Institutions of Capitalism ISBN 0029348218
• The Nature of the Firm: Origins, Evolution, and Development ISBN 0195083563

See also

• Theory of the firm

The theory of the firm consists of a number of economic theories which describe the nature of the firm (company or corporation), including its behaviour and its relationship with the market. ...

External links

• Oliver E. Williamson's homepage