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The Organization of Industry

The Organization of Industry collects essays written over two decades—pieces prepared especially for this volume, previously unpublished material, and reprinted articles drawn from numerous sources, many which include additional commentary by the author. The essays are unified by George J. Stigler’s careful analysis and by his clear and witty style.

In part one, Stigler examines the nature of competition and monopoly. In part two he discusses the forces that determine the size structure of industry, including barriers to entry, economics of scale, and mergers. Part three contains articles on a wide range of topics, such as profitability, delivered price systems, block booking, the economics of information, and the kinky oligopoly demand curve and rigid price. Part four offers a discussion of antitrust policy and includes Stigler’s recommendations for future policy as well as an examination of the effects of past policies.

"Stigler’s writings might well be subtitled ’The Joys of Doing Economics.’ He, more than any other contemporary American economist, dispels the gloom surrounding economic theory. It is impossible to confront the subject treated with such humor and verve and come away still believing that economics is the dismal science."—Shirley B. Johnson, American Scholar


346 pages | 6 x 9 | © 1983

Economics and Business: Business--Industry and Labor, Economics--General Theory and Principles

Table of Contents

1. What Is Industrial Organization?
Part I. What Is Competition? And Monopoly?
2. Competition
3. Price and Nonprice Competition
4. The Measurement of Concentration
5. A Theory of Oligopoly
Part II. The Determinants of Concentration
6. Barriers to Entry, Economies of Scale, and Firm Size
7. The Economies of Scale
8. Monopoly and Oligopoly by Merger
9. The Dominant Firm and the Inverted Umbrella
10. Imperfections in the Capital Market
11. A Note of Patents
Part III. Topics in Market Behavior
12. The Division of Labor Is Limited by the Extent of the Market
13. A Note on Profitability, Competition, and Concentration
14. A Theory of Delivered Price Systems
15. A Note on Block Booking
16. The Economics of Information
17. Information in the Labor Market
18. The Kinky Oligopoly Demand Curve and Rigid Prices
19. Administered Prices and Oligopolistic Inflation
Part IV. Antitrust Policy
20. Restraints on Trade in the Common Law
21. The Economic Effects of the Antitrust Laws
22. Mergers and Preventive Antitrust Policy
Appendix
Monopolistic Competition Based in Retrospect
Index

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