Editing Oliver E. Williamson (section)

{{Short description|American economist (1932–2020)}}
{{more citations needed|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox economist
|birth_name=Oliver Eaton Williamson
|school_tradition=[[New Institutional Economics]]
|image=Nobel Prize 2009-Press Conference KVA-42.jpg
|image_size=
|caption=Williamson in 2009
|birth_date={{Birth date|1932|09|27}}
|birth_place=[[Superior, Wisconsin]], U.S.
|death_date={{Death date and age|2020|05|21|1932|09|27}}
|death_place=[[Berkeley, California]], U.S.
|nationality= American
|institution=[[University of California, Berkeley]]<br>[[Yale University]]<br>[[University of Pennsylvania]]
|field=[[Microeconomics]]
|influences=[[Kenneth Arrow]]<br>[[Chester Barnard]]<br>[[Ronald Coase]]<br>[[Richard Cyert]]<br>[[Friedrich Hayek]]<br>[[Ian Roderick Macneil]]<br>[[Herbert A. Simon]]<br>[[John R. Commons]]
|contributions=
|awards=[[John von Neumann Award]] (1999)
[[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences]] (2009)
|signature=<!-- file name only -->
|repec_prefix=e |repec_id=pwi200
|education=[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] ([[Bachelor of Sciences|BS]])<br>[[Stanford University]] ([[Master of Business Administration|MBA]])<br>[[Carnegie Mellon University]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
| thesis_title       = The economics of discretionary behavior: nonpecuniary objectives in the theory of the firm
| thesis_url         = https://www.proquest.com/docview/302103945/
| thesis_year        = 1963
}}

'''Oliver Eaton Williamson''' (September 27, 1932 – May 21, 2020) was an American [[economist]], a professor at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], and recipient of the 2009 [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences]], which he shared with [[Elinor Ostrom]].<ref name="Nobelprize"/>

His contributions to [[Transaction cost|transaction cost economics]] and the [[theory of the firm]] have been influential in the [[social sciences]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Mahoney|first1=Joseph T.|last2=Nickerson|first2=Jackson|date=2021|title=Oliver Williamson: a Hero's journey on the merits|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-institutional-economics/article/abs/oliver-williamson-a-heros-journey-on-the-merits/D068ACA17BED5AE3FC3857D4C233FA12|journal=Journal of Institutional Economics|volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=195–207|language=en|doi=10.1017/S1744137421000151|s2cid=233655198|issn=1744-1374|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Argyres|first1=Nicholas|last2=Zenger|first2=Todd|date=2021|title=Oliver Williamson and the strategic theory of the firm|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-institutional-economics/article/abs/oliver-williamson-and-the-strategic-theory-of-the-firm/1D2324A9709333199430E7DEF5600340|journal=Journal of Institutional Economics|volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=209–217|language=en|doi=10.1017/S1744137421000539|s2cid=237835868 |issn=1744-1374|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Sent|first1=Esther-Mirjam|last2=Kroese|first2=Annelie L. J.|date=2021|title=Commemorating Oliver Williamson, a founding father of transaction cost economics|journal=Journal of Institutional Economics|volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=181–193|language=en|doi=10.1017/S1744137421000606|issn=1744-1374|doi-access=free|hdl=2066/247655|hdl-access=free}}</ref> [[law and economics]]. Williamson described his work as "a blend of soft social science and abstract economic theory".<ref>Maclay, K., [https://web.archive.org/web/20100411022552/http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/news/20091012_nobelprize.html UC Berkeley's Oliver Williamson shares Nobel Prize in economics], ''Haas Newsroom'', published 12 October 2009, archived 11 April 2010, accessed 6 July 2023</ref>