The course provides an overview of institutions operating in the private and public spheres. It focuses on determinants of governance structures ranging from classical market contracts to complex hierarchies. It discusses the internal functioning of organisations as well as co-operation among them. The course builds on the theoretical results of new institutional economics, including transaction-cost economics, property rights theory and the principal-agent approach.

Main topics include fundamental issues such as coordination, pre-contractual opportunism, post-contractual opportunism, risk-sharing and incentives, alternative enforcement mechanisms, asset specificity and hierarchy, property rights; and applications such as corporate forms, financing alternatives, non-profit organisations, labour contracts, organisational culture and leadership.

Syllabus of the course

Last modified: 2011.09.12.