Download or read book The Economics of Adaptation and Long-term Relationships written by Dean Victor Williamson and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2019 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do institutions matter in economic theory? Or is the economic analysis of institutions a distraction from the most important action? Indeed, does Vernon Smith’s notion of the “institution-free core” of formal economic theory encompass that most important action? To explore this question, this book opens with an informal tour of the economics of system design out of which an economics of adaptation ultimately emerged. The book then offers explorations, via the application of the economics of adaptation in both law and economics relating to how parties manage relationships within the firm, within the context of long-term contracts, and, most vividly, within the context of antitrust conspiracy.