Nobel laureate in economics visits CBS

Honorary Doctor Oliver Williamson awarded with Nobel Prize

Honorary Doctor at CBS, Professor Oliver Williamson from UC Berkeley is one of this year’s two Nobel laureates in economics. On 15 December, he visits CBS to give a lecture. This year, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decided to award two researchers with the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel: Elinor Ostrom from Indiana University for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons, and Oliver E. Williamson from University of Berkeley for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm.

Williamson contributes to CBS research

- Our research environment Design and Governance of Economic Institutions is directly inspired by Oliver Williamson’s incredible work. He has examined the boundaries of firms and shown that they may help resolving conflicts between different financial parties, Professor Peter Møllgaard, Head of the CBS Department of Economics, says.

It is the hope of Director of Center for Strategic Management and Globalization Nicolai Foss that even more researchers and student will open their eyes to the importance of Williamson’s contribution as a consequence of his getting the Nobel Prize.

- Williamson’s work is fundamental for the research on strategic and international management conducted at Center for Strategic Management and Globalization as well as elsewhere at CBS. That was one of the reasons why Williamson received an honorary doctorate from CBS, Nicolai Foss explains.

Watch the lecture live on the Internet

If you are not able to attend the lecture, click here to watch it live. You will also be able to watch the lecture at a later point in time.

About Oliver Williamson

77-year-old Oliver Williamson is a distinguished American writer and among other things, he has established costs of transactions as a fundamental element in economic theory. One of his primary research areas is the firm’s basis for decision-making when choosing whether to outsource or handling its tasks in-house.

Oliver Williamson has an MBA from Stanford University and a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University. Since 1965, he has taught economics, business administration and law at University of Pennsylvania, Yale University and University of California, Berkeley.

Read Oliver Williamson’s CV and see a list of his publications