Editing Oliver E. Williamson

{{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>

==Life and career==
Oliver "Olly"<ref name=":0" /> Williamson was born in [[Superior, Wisconsin]], on 27 September 1932.<ref name=":0" /> He was the son of Sara Lucille (Dunn) and Scott Williamson, both of whom were high school teachers.<ref name=":0" /> As a child, Williamson attended [[Superior High School (Wisconsin)|Central High School]] in Superior.<ref>{{cite web | title = Five Individuals, 1952 Cathedral Football Team Among 2010 HOF Inductees | publisher = Superior Telegram | date =  February 11, 2010 | url = http://www.superiortelegram.com/content/five-indviduals-1952-cathedral-football-team-among-2010-hof-inductees}}</ref>

Williamson's dual enrollment between Ripon College and MIT<ref name=":0" /> earned him his bachelor's degree in management from the [[MIT Sloan School of Management]] in 1955. During his time in his undergraduate academic career, his studies in engineering sparked his initial interest in transaction costs.<ref name=":0" /> After graduating, he worked as a project engineer for [[General Electric]], as well as the Central Intelligence Agency.<ref name=":0" />

Williamson received an [[Master of Business Administration|MBA]] from [[Stanford University]] in 1960, and his [[PhD]] from [[Carnegie Mellon University]], formerly Carnegie Tech,<ref name=":0" /> in 1963. His dissertation was titled ‘The Economics of Discretionary Behaviour: Managerial Objectives in a Theory of the Firm’.<ref name=":0" /> A student of [[Ronald Coase]], [[Herbert A. Simon]] and [[Richard Cyert]], he specialized in [[transaction cost]] economics.

From 1963 to 1965 he was an assistant professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1965 to 1983 he was a professor at the [[University of Pennsylvania]] and from 1983 to 1988, a Gordon B. Tweedy Professor of [[Law and economics|Economics of Law]] and Organization at [[Yale University]]. While at Yale, Williamson was a founder of ''[[The Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization]]''. He held professorships in business administration, economics, and law at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] since 1988 and was the [[Edgar Kaiser Sr.|Edgar F. Kaiser]] Professor Emeritus at the [[Haas School of Business]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Curriculum Vitae of Oliver E. Williamson |url=http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/groups/online_marketing/facultyCV/williamson_oliver.pdf |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |access-date=2009-10-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611053352/http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/groups/online_marketing/facultyCV/williamson_oliver.pdf |archive-date=2015-06-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref> As a [[U.S.-Italy Fulbright Commission|Fulbright Distinguished Chair]], in 1999 he taught economics at the [[University of Siena]].

Found to be one of the most cited authors in the social sciences,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pessali|first=Huascar F.|date=2006|title=The rhetoric of Oliver Williamson's transaction cost economics|journal=Journal of Institutional Economics|volume=2|issue=1|pages=45–65|doi=10.1017/S1744137405000238|s2cid=59432864|issn=1744-1382}}</ref> in 2009, he was awarded the [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics]] for "his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm",<ref>{{Cite book | title = Sveriges Riksbank's Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2009 | url = http://www.riksbank.com/templates/Page.aspx?id=20286 | publisher = Sveriges Riksbank | date = 12 October 2009 | access-date = 2009-10-12 | url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091017212331/http://www.riksbank.com/templates/Page.aspx?id=20286 | archive-date = 17 October 2009 }}.</ref> sharing it with [[Elinor Ostrom]]. Williamson died on May 21, 2020, in Berkeley, California.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu/nobel-laureate-oliver-williamson-dies-at-87/|title = Nobel laureate Oliver Williamson, pioneer of organizational economics, dies at 87|date = 23 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Passing of Oliver Williamson {{!}} SIOE|url=https://www.sioe.org/news/passing-oliver-williamson|website=www.sioe.org|access-date=2020-05-23}}</ref>

==Theory==
By drawing attention at a high theoretical level to equivalences and differences between market and non-market decision-making, management and service provision, Williamson was influential in the 1980s and 1990s debates on the boundaries between the [[public sector|public]] and [[private sector]]s.

His focus on the costs of transactions led Williamson to distinguish between repeated case-by-case bargaining on the one hand and relationship-specific contracts on the other. For example, the repeated purchasing of coal from a [[spot market]] to meet the daily or weekly needs of an [[electric power|electric utility]] would represent case-by-case bargaining. But over time, the utility is likely to form ongoing relationships with a specific supplier, and the economics of the relationship-specific dealings will be importantly different, he argued.

Other economists have tested Williamson's transaction-cost theories in empirical contexts. One important example is a paper by [[Paul Joskow|Paul L. Joskow]], "[[Contract]] Duration and Relationship-Specific Investments: Empirical Evidence from [[Coal]] [[Market (economics)|Market]]s", in ''[[American Economic Review]]'', March 1987. The [[Contract theory#Incomplete contracts|incomplete contracts]] approach to the [[theory of the firm]] and [[corporate finance]] is partly based on the work of Williamson and Coase.<ref>[[Oliver Hart (economist)|Hart, Oliver]], (1995), ''Firms, Contracts, and Financial Structure''. Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-828881-6}}.</ref>

Williamson was credited with the development of the term "information impactedness", which applies in situations of unequal access to information.<ref>Williamson, O., [https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1817092.pdf Markets and Hierarchies: Some Elementary Considerations], ''The American Economic Review'', May 1973, Vol. 63, No. 2, Papers and Proceedings of the Eighty-fifth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association, pp. 316-325, accessed 13 February 2023</ref> As he explained in ''Markets and Hierarchies'', it exists "mainly because of uncertainty and [[economic opportunism|opportunism]], though [[bounded rationality]] is involved as well. It exists when true underlying circumstances relevant to the transaction, or related set of transactions, are known to one or more parties but cannot be costlessly discerned by or displayed for others". Thus, Williamson is to be counted among those who have taken issue with the view that the firm is another type of market, characterized by a nexus of contracts. In his own words: "But to regard the corporation only as a nexus of contracts misses much of what is truly distinctive about this mode of governance".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Williamson|first=Oliver E.|date=1991|title=Comparative Economic Organization: The Analysis of Discrete Structural Alternatives|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2393356|journal=Administrative Science Quarterly|volume=36|issue=2|pages=269–296|doi=10.2307/2393356|jstor=2393356 |s2cid=17863124 |issn=0001-8392|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last1=Agafonow|first1=Alejandro|date=2020|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48352-8_43-2|work=Handbook of Philosophy of Management|pages=1–21|editor-last=Neesham|editor-first=Cristina|series=Handbooks in Philosophy|place=Cham|publisher=Springer International Publishing|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-48352-8_43-2|isbn=978-3-319-48352-8|access-date=2021-10-27|last2=Perez|first2=Marybel|title=Discoveries in the Science of Organizational Economics: From the Province of Genius to the Province of Reason |s2cid=242329591 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences==
[[File:Oliver Williamson's pipe holder at the Nobel Museum (51953).jpg|thumb|Williamson's pipe holder on display at the [[Nobel Prize Museum]]]]
In 2009, the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]] cited Williamson and [[Elinor Ostrom]] to share the 10-million [[Swedish kronor]] (£910,000; $1.44 million) prize "for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm".<ref name="Nobelprize">{{Nobelprize|accessdate=2020-10-11}}</ref> Williamson, in the BBC's paraphrase of the academy's reasoning, "developed a theory where business firms served as structures for conflict resolution".<ref>Special Issue of ''Journal of Retailing'' in Honor of The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2009 to Oliver E. Williamson, Volume 86, Issue 3, pp. 209–290 (September 2010). Edited by [[Arne Nygaard]] and [[Robert Dahlstrom]]</ref>
[[File:Nobel Prize 2009-Press Conference KVA-29.jpg|thumb|330x330px|Oliver E. Williamson and Elinor Ostrom at the 2009 Nobel Prize Press Conference.]]

==Personal life==
He met his wife Dolores Celini in 1957, while they both lived in Washington, D.C.<ref name=":0" /> They had five children.<ref name=":0" />

==Awards and fellowships==
* The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 2009.
* Distinguished Fellow, [[American Economic Association]], 2007.
* [[H. C. Recktenwald Prize in Economics|Horst Claus Recktenwald Prize in Economics]], 2004.
* Founding Editor, [[Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization]], 2003
* President, [https://www.sioe.org/ Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics], 1998–2001
* Board of Directors, [https://www.sioe.org/ Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics], 1997–2006
* Fellow, [[American Academy of Political and Social Science]], 1997.
* Member, [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]], 1994.
* Fellow, [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], 1983.
* Fellow, [[Fellows of the Econometric Society|Econometric Society]], 1977.
* [[Alexander Henderson Award]], 1962.
* Doctoris Honoris Causa in Economics, [[Université Paris-Dauphine]], 2012.
* Doctoris Honoris Causa in Economics, [[Nice University]], 2005.
* Doctoris Honoris Causa in Economics, [[University of Valencia]], 2004.
* Doctoris Honoris Causa in Economics, [[University of Chile]], 2000.
* Honorary Doctorate in Economics and Business Administration, [[Copenhagen Business School]], 2000.
* Doctoris Honoris Causa, [[HEC Paris]], 1997.
* Doctoris Honoris Causa in Business Administration, [[St. Petersburg University]], 1997.
* Doctoris Honoris Causa in Economics, [[Turku School of Economics]] and Business Administration, 1995.
* Doctoris Honoris Causa in Economic Science, [[Groningen University]], 1989.
* Doctoris Honoris Causa in Economic Science, [[University of St. Gallen]], 1987.
* Oeconomiae Doctorem Honoris Causa, PhD, [[Norwegian School of Economics]] and Business Administration, Jubilee Celebration, 1986.

== Legacy ==
For his dedication to the field and his service to the institution, the Haas School of Business at Berkeley established the Williamson Award<ref name=":0" /> in honor of Oliver Williamson. This prestigious award is presented to outstanding faculty members who embody Berkeley's four Defining Leadership Principles - Question the Status Quo, Confidence Without Attitude, Students Always, and Beyond Yourself.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Williamson Award |url=https://haas.berkeley.edu/faculty-research/teaching-awards/#:~:text=The%20Williamson%20Award%20is%20the,school's%20four%20Defining%20Leadership%20Principles. |access-date=November 21, 2023 |website=Berkeley Haas}}</ref> Beginning in fiscal year 2013, the Williamson Award has been presented to the following faculty members:

* 2013-2014: Professor [[John Morgan (economist)|John Morgan]]
* 2014-2015: Professor [[Teck-Hua Ho|Teck Ho]]
* 2015-2016: Professor [https://haas.berkeley.edu/faculty/stuart-toby/ Toby Stuart]
* 2016-2017: Professor [https://haas.berkeley.edu/faculty/rose-andrew/ Andy Rose]
* 2019-2020: Professor [https://haas.berkeley.edu/faculty/wallace-nancy/ Nancy Wallace]
* 2022-2023: Associate Professor [https://haas.berkeley.edu/faculty/augenblick-ned/ Ned Augenblick]

==Selected papers==
* {{cite journal | author = Oliver E. Williamson | year = 1981 | title = The Economics of Organization: The Transaction Cost Approach | url = https://www2.bc.edu/~jonescq/mb851/Feb19/Williamson_AJS_1981.pdf | journal = The American Journal of Sociology | pages = 548–577 | volume = 87 | issue = 3 | access-date = 2012-01-11 | doi = 10.1086/227496 | s2cid = 154070008 | url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090530032307/http://www2.bc.edu/~jonescq/mb851/Feb19/Williamson_AJS_1981.pdf | archive-date = 2009-05-30 }}
* {{cite journal | author = Oliver E. Williamson | year = 2002 | title = The Theory of the Firm as Governance Structure: From Choice to Contract | jstor = 3216956 | journal = Journal of Economic Perspectives
 | pages = 171–195 | volume = 16 | issue = 3 | doi = 10.1257/089533002760278776| doi-access = free }}

==Books==
* {{cite book |last1=Williamson |first1=Oliver E. |title=Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications |date=1975 |publisher=Macmillan Publishers |location=New York |isbn=978-0029353608 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/marketshierarchi00will }}
* {{cite book |last1=Williamson |first1=Oliver E. |title=The Economic Institutions of Capitalism |date=1985 |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |isbn=9780029348208 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/economicinstitut0000will }}
* {{cite book |last1=Williamson |first1=Oliver E. |title=Antitrust Economics |date=1989 |publisher=Basil Blackwell |isbn=9780631171829}}
* {{cite book |last1=Williamson |first1=Oliver E. |title=Economic Organization |date=1990 |publisher=New York University Press |location=New York |isbn=9780814792407}}
* {{cite book |last1=Williamson |first1=Oliver E. |title=The Nature of the Firm |date=1991 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=9780195065909 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/natureoffirmorig0000unse }}
* {{cite book |last1=Williamson |first1=Oliver E. |title=Organization Theory: From Chester Barnard to the Present and Beyond |date=1995 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=9780195098303}}
* {{cite book |last1=Williamson |first1=Oliver E. |title=The Mechanisms of Governance |date=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0195078244}}
* {{cite book |last1=Williamson |first1=Oliver E. |title=Industrial Organization |date=1996 |publisher=Elgar Pub. |location=USA |isbn=9781858984889 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/industrialorgani0000unse_z8h4 }}

==See also==
* [[Theory of the firm]]
* [[New institutional economics]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Oliver E. Williamson}}{{wikiquote}}
* [http://groups.haas.berkeley.edu/bpp/oew/ Oliver E. Williamson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030421091738/http://groups.haas.berkeley.edu/bpp/oew/ |date=2003-04-21 }} at [[University of California, Berkeley]]
* {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture on  8 December 2009 ''Transaction Cost Economics: The Natural Progression''
* [https://ideas.repec.org/e/pwi200.html Profile] and [http://econpapers.repec.org/RAS/pwi200.htm Papers] at [[Research Papers in Economics]]/RePEc

''From the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley:''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100620215850/http://www2.haas.berkeley.edu/News/Newsroom/091012williamson.aspx HNW Story]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100411022552/http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/news/20091012_nobelprize.html Press Release on Williamson's sharing the Nobel Prize in economics with Elinor Ostrom]

''From the University of California, Berkeley:''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091015044824/http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/10/12_nobel.shtml Press Release]

''In The News:''
* [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/13/MNSL1A4ILE.DTL/ San Francisco Chronicle]
* [https://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/10/12/work-of-2009-economics-nobel-laureates-ostrom-williamson-sheds-light-on-regulation/ Wall Street Journal (October 12, 2009)]
* [https://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/10/12/economists-react-nobel-award-sends-message-about-economics/ Wall Street Journal (October 12, 2009)]
* [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704107204574469372956187270/ Wall Street Journal (October 12, 2009)]
* [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125534373296580027/ Wall Street Journal (October 13, 2009)]
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/business/economy/13nobel.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=oliver%20williamson&st=cse/ New York Times]
* [https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/NewsSearch?st=oliver%20williamson&/ Washington Post]
* [http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=7060974/ ABC7 News, San Francisco] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120930175421/http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=7060974%2F |date=2012-09-30 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191006/http://www.ktvu.com/video/21273146/index.html/ KTVU, San Francisco]

{{s-start}}
{{s-ach|aw}}
{{s-bef | before = [[Paul Krugman]] }}
{{s-ttl | title = [[List of Nobel Memorial Prize laureates in Economics|Laureate of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics]] | years = 2009 | alongside = [[Elinor Ostrom]] }}
{{s-aft | after = [[Peter A. Diamond]] | after2 = [[Dale T. Mortensen]] | after3 = [[Christopher A. Pissarides]] }}
{{s-end}}

{{Instecon}}
{{2009 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Sveriges Riksbank laureates in economics 2001–2025}}
{{John von Neumann Award recipients}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williamson, Oliver E.}}
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:2020 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Superior, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:New institutional economists]]
[[Category:American business theorists]]
[[Category:American Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Economics]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Econometric Society]]
[[Category:Tepper School of Business alumni]]
[[Category:Haas School of Business faculty]]
[[Category:Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni]]
[[Category:MIT Sloan School of Management alumni]]
[[Category:University of Pennsylvania faculty]]
[[Category:Yale University faculty]]
[[Category:Economists from Wisconsin]]
[[Category:20th-century American writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American economists]]
[[Category:21st-century American economists]]
[[Category:Distinguished fellows of the American Economic Association]]