Review of Open Lecture with Oliver E. Williamson
 Nobel prize winner Oliver E. Williamson |
Williamson expressed some skepticism that more regulation is the best solution to the recent problems in the financial industry and highlighted several recent cases where regulation has blatantly failed to achieve its stated objectives. He concluded with a challenge to academic researchers and other thinkers to develop a systematic understanding of regulatory failure, in the same that many have systematically examined market failure.
Oliver E. Williamson’s ideas about contract theory have heavily influenced developments in the theory of the firm and have become central to both business economics and industrial organization. His insights have improved the understanding of a wide range of organizational and institutional areas. These include the choice and design of contracts, corporate financial structure, antitrust policy, the function and operation of political systems, and the size and scope of firms.
Williamson is the author of several books, including an economics classic "Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications" (1975). Its sequel, "The Economic Institutions of Capitalism: Firms, Markets, Relational Contracting" (1985) is reportedly the most frequently cited work in social science research.
Oliver E. Williamson served as a special economic assistant to the head of the antitrust division of the U.S. Justice Department from 1966-1967 and has consulted for the National Science Foundation and the Federal Trade Commission. He earned his undergraduate degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a master’s in business administration from Stanford University, and a PhD in economics from Carnegie-Mellon University. He has received 10 honorary doctorates from universities around the world.
He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a fellow of the Econometrics Society. He also was the 1999-2001 president of the International Society of New Institutional Economics. At UC Berkeley, he was chair of the Academic Senate in 1995. Williamson is the founding editor of the Journal of Law, Economics and Organization.
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