This book's essays discuss human behavior and the institutions of capitalism. The essays are non-technical and are written so as to be accessible to students of all disciplines and to all other persons interested in capitalism and in economic behavior. They often present unconventional views of the topics they discuss. Those containing unconventional views discuss self-interested behavior, selfish gene theory, the meaning and social function of private ownership, the externality problem, the nature of the firm, and the rise of capitalism. The essays are not meant to be a textbook, but they offer a useful supplementary reading source for courses in business, economics, and law that deal with human behavior in the marketplace and with capitalism, ownership, markets, and firms.

This book s essays discuss human behavior and the institutions of capitalism. The essays are non-technical and are written so as to be accessible to students of all disciplines and to all other persons interested in capitalism and in economic behavior. They often present unconventional views of the topics they discuss. Those containing unconventional views discuss self-interested behavior, selfish gene theory, the meaning and social function of private ownership, the externality problem, the nature of the firm, and the rise of capitalism. The essays are not meant to be a textbook, but they offer a useful supplementary reading source for courses in business, economics, and law that deal with human behavior in the marketplace and with capitalism, ownership, markets, and firms.

A professor at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago in the 1960s and a primary figure in Chicago School Economics and in the field of Law and Economics, Harold Demsetz has contributed original research on the theory of the firm, regulation in markets, industrial organisation, anti-trust policy, transaction costs, externalities, and property rights. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Director of the Mont Pelerin Society, Demsetz is Arthur Andersen UCLA Alumni Emeritus Professor of Business Economics. Mark Grady, Professor of Law and Director of the UCLA Law School's Center for Law and Economics, interviews his former teacher at UCLA about the main issues and problems at the core of Demsetz's lifetime investigation into the nature of economics. Ken Lehn, Sam Peltzman, and Ben Klein provide critical and insightful commentary on the influence and impact of Harold Demsetz's work. This work's approximate running time: 86 minutes.

The essays in this volume break new ground in the theory of the business firm and its applications in economics. A leading analyst of industrial organization, Professor Demsetz critically examines current debates on the existence, definition, and organization of the firm and discusses issues related to the emerging theory of the firm. He then analyzes the relation among business ownership, wealth, and economic development. Subsequent essays offer new perspectives on competition, profit maximization and rational behavior, and shed new light on managers' compensation, antitrust policy, and the accuracy of firms' accounting data.

This interdisciplinary review series provides an economic analysis of cases decided by the United States Supreme Court, the implicit or explicit economic reasoning employed by the Court, and the economic consequences of the Court's decisions.