Williamson, Oliver Eaton

Oliver Eaton Williamson, 1932–, American economist, b. Superior, Wisc., Ph.D. Carnegie-Mellon Univ., 1963. He has served on the faculties of Univ. of California, Berkeley (1963–65, 1988–2004, emeritus 2004–), the Univ. of Pennsylvania (1965–83), and Yale (1983–88). Williamson has compared the economic workings of markets and nonmarkets, such as business firms and other hierarchical organizations, contrasting their benefits and drawbacks, and developing a theory concerning how companies promote conflict resolution in situations involving limited competition. He shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Elinor Ostrom in 2009 for his work.

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Publication information: Article title: Williamson, Oliver Eaton. Encyclopedia title: The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. © 2012 The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. Used with the permission of Columbia University Press. All Rights Reserved. Publisher: The Columbia University Press. Place of publication: Not available. Publication year: 2013.

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