The Corporate Economy, a collective work by some of the world’s most distinguished theoretical economists, offers analyses of the workings of an economy dominated by large corporations. The book is concerned with the theory of the growth of the firm, with competition between divisions of corporations in particular product markets, and with relationships between the company and the stock market. It presents discussions of the internal organization of diversified corporations and the effects of this organization on the corporations’ economic behavior as well as on the relations between the corporate sector and the small-scale or “competitive” sector of the economy. Three empirical appendices, which include some previously unpublished material, survey the literature on the size, growth, and profitability of firms and on diversification, merger, and research expenditures.

This collection of working papers from an interdisciplinary study group of the Harvard University Program on Technology and Society is a first report of work in progress. Based on the premise that neither government nor business as presently organized can do the job of renewing American cities, the papers show that community-development organizations can be formed which achieve businesslike efficiency, growth, and innovation and which would respond to market-like rewards.