This text studies transaction cost economics, influential in economic thought on how institutions work. Whereas orthodox economics describes the firm in technological terms, as a production function, transaction cost economics describes it in organizational terms, as a governance structure.

Offering a new economic perspective to organizational studies, this work shows that decision-makers in firms respond to economic factors that affect both the structure of the individual firm and the structure of the industry within which the organization operates.

Corporate Governance is a text which considers the problems surrounding governance and proposes solutions to help restore investor confidence in the corporate world. The book is intended for board members, corporate executives, regulators, auditors, creditors and analysts seeking a concise analysis of the governance issues facing financial and non-financial corporations round the world. The book is fully international in context and includes real-life examples and cases to emphasize the practical nature of governance problems and solutions.

This book addresses the nexus of issues exploring governance structures and mechanisms in public service organizations, thus contributing to the development of disciplines that focus on public management. It goes beyond the state of the art by addressing a number of specific issues in a more systematic fashion. The book’s interdisciplinary focus is a particularly valuable asset, as its topic is situated at the crossroads of a number of fields, including public management, business administration, corporate governance, policy studies, political science, sociology, and third sector studies, all of which offer important perspectives and are important for the development of public management and public services. The book covers more than Italy and Norway and focuses specifically on public service organizations, addressing more aspects of their governance structures and mechanisms than any other book available today. The unique presentation of features related to the governance and management of different actors (state-owned enterprises, local public utilities, ministries, municipalities, citizens, etc.), involved at different levels in the production and provision of public services, makes it possible to compare and contrast these different perspectives and opens new avenues of theoretical collaboration and development.

This edited volume provides a comprehensive overview of the diverse and multi-faceted research on governance in multilevel systems. The book features a collection of cutting-edge trans-Atlantic contributions, covering topics such as federalism, decentralization as well as various forms and processes of regionalization and Europeanization. While the field of multilevel governance is comparatively young, research in the subject has also come of age as considerable theoretical, conceptual and empirical advances have been achieved since the first influential works were published in the early noughties. The present volume aims to gauge the state-of-the-art in the different research areas as it brings together a selection of original contributions that are united by a variety of configurations, dynamics and mechanisms related to governing in multilevel systems.

This volume is devoted to the analysis of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and its role in international and national policy making. On its 50th anniversary, the OECD enjoys widely acknowledged international standing. Despite this, it has so far remained a rarely researched and analyzed organization. This book is thus a pioneering work: it fills a long-overdue gap in presenting a theoretically guided and empirically rich analysis of the OECD as apolitical actor. It explores its role in political processes through various case studies in a variety of policy fields. By conceptualizing the contributions to this volume around the concept of mechanisms of governance, it explores how and to what extent the OECD provides international incentives fornational policy making. The volume collects a set of ten contributions on the OECD and its activities in core fields of its commitment as an 'economic organization', such as economic and labor market policy, tax issues, finance or financial crime, but also in complementary fields in which the organization is active today despite its original economic focus, such as education, biotechnology, health, family issues, and migration. The case studies presented in this volume are an interdisciplinarycollection from different academic perspectives, including political science, international relations, law, and organization studies. The book provides a current and wide-ranging analysis of this organization including its constraints and opportunities in policy making.

From the world's first stock markets, to private policing in San Francisco, to millions of credit card transactions, Private Governance makes the case that private rules and regulations are more common and effective than most people know. Private governance works behind the scenes and helps make the modern economy possible.

This exciting new text provides a complete introduction to Corporate Governance. It deals with the control and direction of companies by boards, owners and company law, and also looks at the mechanisms of governance and thedifferent governance systems around the world. Part 1: is a non-technical overview of the relevant theories, governance mechanisms and the country models. Part 2: looks at some of the most important governance mechanisms in detail. Part 3: studies individual international corporate governance systems. Part 4: wraps up with a discussion on governance practices.

This exciting new text provides a complete introduction to Corporate Governance. It deals with the control and direction of companies by boards, owners and company law, and also looks at the mechanisms of governance and the different governance systems around the world. Part 1: is a non-technical overview of the relevant theories, governance mechanisms and the country models.Part 2: looks at some of the most important governance mechanisms in detail.Part 3: studies individual international corporate governance systems.Part 4: wraps up with a discussion on governance practices.

Tackles one of the most enduring and contentious issues of positive political economy: common pool resource management.