We study the determinants of make-or-buy decisions for engines made by every recorded U.S. auto firm during 1917-1933. Most make-or-buy studies testing predictions of transaction cost economics exclude smaller firms, even though their make-or-buy behavior might be different from large firms' due...

This paper explores mechanisms through which a party's choice of governance mode for a focal transaction is constrained by the governance choices it made for other, prior transactions. We argue that this condition of "governance inseparability" plays an important role in determining the...