Law & Economics
Portrait of Oliver Hart
Scholar portraitSource: Harvard Law School

Hart

Oliver Hart

Economist of contract theory, firm boundaries, and corporate governance

contract theoryincomplete contractscorporate governance

Official Source Note

Harvard Law School identifies Hart as Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor and notes his 2016 Nobel Prize. His profile describes his research as centered on ownership structure, contractual arrangements, governance, and firm boundaries.

Hart is included because incomplete-contract theory and residual control rights are central to corporate-law analysis of ownership, authority, and investment incentives.

Source: Harvard Law School

Relevance to the Archive

Hart gives corporate-law readers a precise way to connect ownership, residual control rights, investment incentives, and the allocation of authority inside firms.

Representative Contributions

  • Firms, Contracts, and Financial Structure (1995)
  • The Costs and Benefits of Ownership (with Sanford Grossman)
  • Property Rights and the Nature of the Firm (with John Moore)

Works Included Here