Symposium in honor of
Oliver E. Williamson
2009 Nobel Laureate in Economics
Defining the Agenda for the Next Decade of Research on Economic Governance
Saturday October 16, 2010
14:00 – 18:00
Gakushuin University
Mejiro, Tokyo
As we begin the second decade of the
century, the economic institutions of capitalism are under increased
scrutiny
and many proposals for remediation are under debate.
The conceptual framework and methods of
comparative institutional analysis, and in particular the study of the
mechanisms of governance, provide a clear perspective from which to
evaluate
the remediation proposals. By focusing
on the right problems, researchers are thus in a position to inform the
remediation
debate.
The symposium engaged
Professors Williamson, Aoki, and Itoh in presentations and discussions
in a way that
leverages their many contributions and deep understanding to help
prioritize research
directions for this decade and beyond.
In the spirit of Professor Williamson’s approach, the symposium
encouraged
interdisciplinary dialogue and sought to identify relevant, concrete,
and
tractable research problems and methods that promise to further our
understanding of:
- behavior under bounded rationality and incomplete information
- transaction costs
- contracts
- governance mechanisms
- organizations
- law and economics
- institutions including formal and informal law
- public policy toward business
Hideshi
Itoh
Professor of Commerce and Management
Hitotsubashi University
Topic: "What Do Formal Contracts Do?"
abstract
Masahiko Aoki
Tomoye and Henri Takahashi Professor Emeritus of Japanese Studies
Department of Economics, Stanford University
Topic: "Corporations: Architecture, Governance, and Varieties"
abstract
Oliver E. Williamson
Edgar F. Kaiser Professor Emeritus of Business, Economics, and Law
University of California, Berkeley
Topic: "Public and Private Bureaucracies: The Transaction Cost
Economics Perspective"
abstract
