IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/revaec/v13y2000i1p59-79.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Austrian Theory of the Firm

Author

Listed:
  • Lewin, Peter
  • Phelan, Steven E

Abstract

The modern Theory of the Firm uses the concept of rent and makes implicit assumptions about equilibrium. An Austrian (Market Process) Theory of the Firm should have something to say about each of these. Two strategic perspectives are analyzed, the neoclassical microeconomic perspective (using the Ricardo-Marshall approach to rent) and the Market Process perspective (using the Fetter approach to rent). In a neoclassical world, rents indicate "unsolved" or unexploited "inefficiencies" as every hypothetical outcome is viewed against the standard of perfect competition. By contrast, in the Market Process world there is no single ideal standard by which to measure any particular outcome. All action takes place in an open-ended universe in which the future is continually being created, in which competition is a "discovery process." Copyright 2000 by Kluwer Academic Publishers

Suggested Citation

  • Lewin, Peter & Phelan, Steven E, 2000. "An Austrian Theory of the Firm," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 13(1), pages 59-79, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revaec:v:13:y:2000:i:1:p:59-79
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://journals.kluweronline.com/issn/0889-3047/contents
    File Function: link to full text
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Peter J. Boettke & Rosolino A. Candela, 2023. "Monitoring, metering and Menger: A conciliatory basis for a genuine institutional economics," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 183-203, June.
    2. Saras D. Sarasvathy & Nicholas Dew, 2013. "Without judgment: An empirically-based entrepreneurial theory of the firm," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 26(3), pages 277-296, September.
    3. Siegfried K. Berninghaus & Werner Güth, 2009. "Buying Versus Hiring—An Indirect Evolutionary Approach," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 619-637, November.
    4. Nicolai J. Foss & Peter G. Klein, 2010. "Austrian Economics and the Theory of the Firm," Chapters, in: Peter G. Klein & Michael E. Sykuta (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Transaction Cost Economics, chapter 27, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Argandoña, Antonio, 2010. "From action theory to the theory of the firm," IESE Research Papers D/855, IESE Business School.
    6. Sierdjan Koster & Nardo de Vries, 2011. "The networks of the solo self-employed and their success," Scales Research Reports H201111, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    7. Hallensleben, Tobias & Jain, Anil K. & Manger, Daniela & Moldaschl, Manfred, 2011. "Innovationskompetenz und Performanz," Papers and Preprints of the Department of Innovation Research and Sustainable Resource Management 3/2011, Chemnitz University of Technology, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    8. Steven E. Phelan, 2016. "Austrian theories of entrepreneurship: Insights from complexity theory," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 29(3), pages 277-297, September.
    9. Sierdjan Koster, 2009. "Taking The First Hurdle In New Firm Formation. The Effects Of Industry-Specific Skills And Support On Survival During The Founding Process," Romanian Journal of Regional Science, Romanian Regional Science Association, vol. 3(1), pages 36-62, JUNE.
    10. Pierre Garrouste, 2008. "The Austrian roots of the economics of institutions," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 21(4), pages 251-269, December.
    11. Robert Mulligan, 2006. "Accounting for the business cycle: Nominal rigidities, factor heterogeneity, and Austrian capital theory," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 19(4), pages 311-336, December.
    12. Nick Harkiolakis, 2023. "The Cycle of Value The Cycle of Value -- A Conservationist Approach to Economics," Papers 2308.07185, arXiv.org.
    13. Richard N. Langlois, 2013. "The Austrian theory of the firm: Retrospect and prospect," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 26(3), pages 247-258, September.
    14. Nicolai J. Foss, 2002. "The Strategy and Transaction Cost Nexus Past Debates, Central Questions, and Future Research Possibilities," DRUID Working Papers 02-04, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    15. Sylvia Maxfield, 2008. "Reconciling Corporate Citizenship and Competitive Strategy: Insights from Economic Theory," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 80(2), pages 367-377, June.
    16. Michael I.C. Nwogugu, 2019. "Complex Systems, Multi-Sided Incentives and Risk Perception in Companies," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-44704-3, December.
    17. Randall G. Holcombe, 2013. "Firms as knowledge repositories," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 26(3), pages 259-275, September.
    18. Peter Lewin, 2023. "How should an Austrian economist teach the theory of the firm? Do the equi-marginal conditions still apply?," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 36(1), pages 81-89, March.
    19. Moldaschl, Manfred, 2011. "Warum Gazellen nachts nicht leuchten: Evolutorische Theorie der Unternehmung," Papers and Preprints of the Department of Innovation Research and Sustainable Resource Management 1/2011, Chemnitz University of Technology, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:revaec:v:13:y:2000:i:1:p:59-79. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.