1. What we know and what we don't know about the firm -- 2. The extent of the market process -- 3. The 'specialisation deadlock' -- 4. Entrepreneurship and integration -- 5. Authority and hierarchy -- 6. The volatile character of the firm -- 7. Financing, ownership, and boundaries of the firm --...

The modern theory of economic organization asserts that the firm at its core consists of an “authority relation,” and that this is what distinguishes the firm from production processes coordinated by voluntary exchange in the market. This article expounds on and problematizes the uses of...

Ronald Coase was in his early 20's when he developed his groundbreaking theory of the firm. This theory represented a new approach with no obvious precursors, but where did it arise from? This article traces the origins of Coase's theory of the firm and provides a context for its formation. I...

Peter T. Leeson's The Invisible Hook provides an illuminating economic analysis of how pirates established governance structures regulating their organization. Leeson is successful in showing economic rationales for piratical institutions and adopts the view of the piratical enterprise as a...