The Economics of the Business Firm
Seven Critical Commentaries

The essays in this volume discuss the theory of the business firm and its applications in economics.

Harold Demsetz (Author)

9780521588652, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 September 1996

192 pages, 1 b/w illus. 10 tables
22.8 x 15 x 1.5 cm, 0.273 kg

'… a stimulating and challenging collection of essays which will certainly repay careful reading by those concerned with the issues which Demsetz tackles.' D. P. O'Brien, The Economic Journal

The essays in this volume discuss the theory of the business firm and its applications in economics. A leading analyst of industrial organization, Professor Demsetz first critically examines current debates on the existence, definition, and organization of the firm and discusses conceptual and theoretical issues related to the emerging theory of the firm. He then analyzes contemporary treatments of the relation between business ownership, wealth, and economic development. Subsequent essays offer new perspectives on competition, profit maximization and rational behavior, and shed new light on managers' compensation, antitrust policy, and the accuracy of firms' accounting data. The latter themes will interest business audiences as well as professionals and students in economics. These previously unpublished essays derive from lectures originally presented at Uppsala and Lund Universities in Sweden, the Mont Pelerin Society meeting in Prague, and the Center for the Study of Economics and the State at the University of Chicago.

Preface
First Commentary. The firm in theory: its definition and existence
Second Commentary. Agency and non-agency explanations of the firm's organization
Third Commentary. Enterprise control, wealth, and economic development
Fourth Commentary. Profit maximization and rational behavior
Fifth Commentary. The use and abuse of accounting profit data
Sixth Commentary. Management compensation and tournament theory
Seventh commentary. The intensity and dimensionality of competition
References.

Subject Areas: Business & management [KJ]