Paper1937
The Nature of the Firm
Ronald Coase
Firms exist because using the market has transaction costs; the boundary of the firm sits where those costs balance.
20 pageslink checked 17 Sept 2026FreeIntermediate
Economics · Industrial Organisation
Vertical Integration
A topic within Industrial Organisation, itself one of 9 topics in that field and part of Economics.
Reading on Vertical Integration
22 works
Lecture2009
Nobel Lecture: Transaction Cost Economics: The Natural Progression
Oliver E. Williamson
Argues the boundary of the firm is set by comparing the transaction costs of governing an exchange through markets, hierarchies or hybrid contracts, with asset specificity as the key variable that pushes a transaction inside the firm.
link checked 17 Sept 2026FreeAdvanced