Contingency, Complexity and the Theory of the Firm

Edited by Sheila C. Dow, Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Stirling, UK and Peter E. Earl, Senior Lecturer in Business Economics, University of Queensland, Australia

• Contents: Introduction 1. What Can an Economist Learn from Managing a Business? 2. Information Costs, Protocols and the Boundaries of the Firm 3. Incomplete Contracts and Economic Organization 4. Loasby and Decisions 5. Three Stories about the Computer Industry and the Relevance of the Loasbian View of the Firm 6. The Changing Nature of Corporate Technological Diversification and the Importance of Organizational Capability 7. Divisions of Labour in the Innovating Firm 8. The Methodological Implications of Post Marshallian Economics 9. The Bounds of Rationality 10. Bounded Rationality, ‘Fundamental’ Uncertainty and the Firm in the Long Run 11. The Growth of Knowledge and the Subjective Probability Approach 12. Disequilibrium States and Adjustment Processes 13. Equilibrium and Incommensurability 14. Economics, the State and the State of Economics 15. Choice, Complexity and Connections 16. Concluding Reflections Index

'Both of these volumes would be particularly useful to readers who are interested in heterodox approaches to the theory of the firm, consumer behaviour and business strategy, as well as to those interested in Austrian, Behavioural and Post-Marshallian economics and methodology. A striking feature of both volumes is the level of originality of the contributions. Some of them are at the cutting-edge of their research fields and this is indicative of Loasby's legacy of prompting original and insightful research into simple, yet seldom-asked questions.'