This book brings together in one place the work of one of the most respected economic theorists, on a field which he has played a large part in originating: the New Institutional Economics. Transaction cost economics, which

Management. This book brings together in one place the work of one of our most respected economic theorists on a field in which he has played a large part in originating: the New Institutional Economics. Transaction cost economics, which studies the governance of contractual relations, is the branch of the New Institutional Economics with which Oliver Williamson is especially associated. Transaction cost economics has had a pervasive influence on current economic thought about how and why institutions function as they do, and it has become a practical framework for research in organizations by representatives of a variety of disciplines. Through a transaction cost analysis, The Mechanisms of Governance shows how and why simple contracts give way to complex contracts and internal organization as the hazards of contracting build up.

"The Mechanisms of Governance is...a valuable summing up of both an especially influential body of work and the career of a great economist."--Business History Review