The Cooperative Nature of the Firm

A study of price and the organization of firms using game theory and neoclassical economics.

This book is an analysis of the modern economy's two major resource allocation mechanisms. The price mechanism has been subject to extensive examination by neoclassical economists, but there has been relatively little attention paid to the impact of the organization of firms on allocation. Professor Ichiishi presents a distinctive theory of the firm which views firms as organizations characterized by diversity of interest among their members, but an acceptance of a coordinated choice of activities: a coalition formed when people play a cooperative game. Using a theory embodying both the neoclassical market mechanism, and the cooperative game, the author derives a number of original results thereby contributing to the theory of the firm, cooperative game theory, and general equilibrium analysis theory.

Preface; 1. Elements of the theory of the firm; 2. Descriptive cooperative game theory; 3. General equilibrium analysis of the nature of the firm; 4. Welfare implications of the nature of the firm; 5. Normative theory of production economy with increasing returns to scale; 6. Stable hierarchical structures; References; Index.

Using a theory embodying both the neoclassical market mechanism, and the cooperative game, this is a study of two major resource allocation mechanisms; price and the organization of firms.