Oliver Williamson

transaction-cost economics; governance structures.

Oliver Williamson (1932–2020) was Edgar F. Kaiser Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. He won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2009 for his analysis of economic governance. Building on Coase's insights, he formalised how asset specificity and opportunism shape the make-or-buy decision and the boundaries of the firm.