topics in organizational economics

This summer I’m teaching a Ph.D. seminar on ‘topics in organizational economics’ at the Helsinki University of Technology (soon to be merged into the forthcoming Finnish mega-university: Aalto University).  So, the angle for this doctoral seminar is admittedly eclectic, largely driven by what I think is important and interesting.   Self-serving, I know.  This is what we’ll be reading and covering:

TOPICS IN ORGANIZATIONAL ECONOMICS

Organizations and Markets: Some Basics

Coase, R.H. 1937. “The nature of the firm.”  Economica, 4: 386-405.

Simon, H. 1955. “A behavioral model of rational choice.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 69: 99-118.

Simon, H. 1991. “Organizations and markets.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 5: 25-44.

Williamson, O.E. 1981. “The economics of organization: The transaction cost approach.” American Journal of Sociology, 87: 548-577.

Aggregation, Information and Collective Action

Arrow, K. 1974.  The limits of organization. New York: W. W. Norton and Company.

Hayek, F. 1945.  “The use of knowledge in society.” American Economic Review, 35: 519-530.

Malmgren, H.B. 1961. “Information, expectations and the theory of the firm.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 75: 399-421.

Nickerson, J. A. and T. R. Zenger. 2004. “A knowledge-based theory of the firm: The problem-solving perspective.” Organization Science, 15: 617-622.

Organizational Economics and Organizational Capabilities

Argyres, N. and Zenger, T. 2007.  “Are capabilities-based theories of firm boundaries really distinct from transaction cost economics.” Olin Business School, Washington University, St. Louis Working Paper.

Foss, N. and Foss, K. 2005.  “Value and transaction costs: How the economics of property rights furthers the RBV.”  Strategic Management Journal, 26: 541-553.

Jacobides, M.G. and Winter, S.G. 2004. “The co-evolution of capabilities and transaction costs: Explaining the institutional structure of production.”  Strategic Management Journal, 26: 395-413.

Madhok, A. 2002.  “Re-assessing the fundamentals and beyond: Ronald Coase, the transaction cost and resource-based theories of the firm and the institutional structure of production.”  Strategic Management Journal, 23: 535-550.

Social Relations, Politics and the Firm

Granovetter, M. 1985. “Economic action and social structure: The problem of embeddedness.” American Journal of Sociology, 91: 481-510.

March, J. 1962. “The business firm as a political coalition.” Journal of Politics, 24: 662-678.

Simon, H. 1964. “On the concept of organizational goal.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 9: 1-22.

Economics and Society: A Debate Dialogue

(had to add this set of readings to the mix…)

Felin, T. and N.J. Foss. 2009. “Social reality, the boundaries of self-fulfilling prophecy, and economics.” Organization Science.

Felin, T. and N.J. Foss. 2009.  “The performativity of theory, arbitrary conventions, and possible worlds: A reality check.”  Organization Science.

Ferraro, F., Pfeffer, J., and Sutton, R. 2005. “Economics language and assumptions: How theories can become self-fulfilling.” Academy of Management Review, 30: 8-24.

Ferraro, F., Pfeffer, J., and Sutton, R. 2009. “How and why theories matter: A comment on Felin and Foss.” Organization Science.