In even the most market-oriented economies, most economic transactions occur not in markets but inside managed organizations, particularly business firms. Organizational economics seeks to understand the nature and workings of such organizations and their impact on economic performance. This...

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- PART I A Theory of Enterprise Ownership -- 1 An Analytic Framework -- 2 The Costs of Contracting -- 3 The Costs of Ownership -- PART II Producer-Owned Enterprise -- 4 Investor-Owned Firms -- 5 The Benefits and Costs of Employee Ownership -- 6...

Countries pursuing economic development confront a fundamental obstacle. Reforms that increase the size of the overall pie are blocked by powerful interests that are threatened by the growth-inducing changes. This problem is conspicuous in efforts to create effective capital markets to support...

Business corporations in the nineteenth century often imposed limits on the voting rights of large shareholders. Economic historians have generally interpreted these voting restrictions as a contractual mechanism designed to protect small shareholders in a legal environment that afforded...

This article explores the reasons for the current dominance of the nonprofit form in the high-culture performing arts, and concludes that this development is a response to the need for price discrimination in that sector. The article develops a model of a nonprofit performing arts organization...