The Firm as a Pool of Factor Complementarities

Assar Lindbeck and Dennis Snower

No 882, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper presents a new approach to the theory of the firm by identifying factor complementarities as central to the determination of the firm’s boundaries. The factor complementarities may take a variety of forms: technological and informational complementarities, as well as economies of scale and scope. We examine the tradeoff between the gains from these complementarities and transactions costs. In so doing, we must abandon the standard dichotomy between the determinants of plant size and firm size. The influence of factor complementarities on firm size is examined in partial and general equilibrium frameworks.

Keywords: firm; complementarities; plant (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D23 J24 J31 J51 J53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 17 pages
Date: 2003-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp882.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Firm as a Pool of Factor Complementarities (2004)
Working Paper: The Firm as a Pool of Factor Complementarities (2003)
Working Paper: The Firm as a Pool of Factor Complementarities (2003)
Working Paper: The Firm as a Pool of Factor Complementarities (2003)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp882

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().