RIP Armen Alchian

It was very sad to hear the Armen Alchian passed away today.

His views on the theory of the firm had a big impact on the profession, and on me as an individual.  I remember finding Production, Information Costs, and Economic Organization (pdf, summary) extremely useful as a student – it was probably the first paper to make me explicitly recognise not only that the firm was as a series of inter-related contracts, but that this process could be captured in a production function using typical marginalist analysis.  His work and clear writing has helped me and countless others to understand “what” a firm is and “why” it exists, which is a pretty awesome contribution to the world in my opinion!

Other regards:  Alex Tabarrok.  David Henderson.  Paul Walker.