Economics 486
The Economics of
Organization
Spring
2004
Mondays 2-4:30
Monteith 311
R. N. Langlois
322 Monteith X63472
Office
hours MW 9-12 and 1-2 or by appointment
Assignment 3
Drawing on what is essentially the Jensen and Meckling theory of
principals and agents, Henry Hansmann has put together what he views as a
general theory of the cooperative form of organization. In this account, even the modern corporation
is a special case of the cooperative (Why?) A non-profit is also a type of cooperative.
Your assignment is to analyze one particular non-profit: the research
university. To make things easier, you
can think in terms of private research universities (like Yale). You should be able to go beyond Hansmann's own terse discussion of colleges.
Reading from the section of the syllabus titled "property
rights and ownership" will be helpful.
Due: March 15.
