Economics of Organizations

Catalog description

Why do most economic activities happen within managed organizations (i.e., firms) and not in markets (i.e., purchased from others)? More fundamentally, what is a firm? This course provides an introduction to *organizational economics* that seeks to understand the nature and workings of organizations-a collection of different people with dispersed information, responsibilities and non-aligned interests. You will learn about the theories of the boundaries of the firm that help unravel the neoclassical economics' blackbox view of the firm and the theories on the provision of incentives that ultimately shape firms. While the class takes a predominantly theoretical approach, you will also learn how the theories are in conversation with empirical evidence.