An investigation of Oliver Williamson's analysis of the division of labour

McMaster, R. and White, M.J. ORCID: 0000-0001-7508-7882, 2013. An investigation of Oliver Williamson's analysis of the division of labour. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 37 (6), pp. 1283-1301. ISSN 1464-3545

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Abstract

In 2009 Oliver Williamson was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for his analysis of economic governance. Williamson was central to the emergence of the transaction cost framework as an important aspect of social scientific analysis. Part of this approach makes important efficiency predictions and prescriptions regarding the division of labour within firms in contemporary capitalist economies. This discounts issues of power and privileges ‘firm-specific human assets’ as the key organisational driver. Indeed, Williamson’s approach intentionally conflates the employment relation with exchanges for 'intermediate' goods. This article seeks to investigate Williamson’s explanatory claims through a UK-based panel dataset using a dynamic logit modelling approach. The findings question Williamson’s central argument. The results, instead, are more consistent with the idea of the industry-specificity of labour and highlight the importance of firm size.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Cambridge Journal of Economics
Creators:	McMaster, R. and White, M.J.
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Date:	2013
Volume:	37
Number:	6
ISSN:	1464-3545
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1093/cje/bet030 DOI
Rights:	Copyright © Oxford University Press 2013
Divisions:	Schools > School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Record created by:	EPrints Services
Date Added:	09 Oct 2015 11:11
Last Modified:	09 Jun 2017 13:52
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/24083

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