Armen A. Alchian (1914-) 

Californian din nastere, Armen Alchian  a terminat studiile si si-a luat doctoratul in 1944 la Universitatea din Stanford. La sfarsitul celui de-al doilea razboi mondial a intrat sa lucreze ca economist la RAND Corporation pana ce in 1964 s-a angajat ca profesor la UCLA. 

Armen Alchian este unul din fondatorii economiei moderne, acel camp pe care unii il numesc "Noua Economie Institutionala" si altii "Noua Economie Politica". In articolul sau "Incertitudine, evolutie si teoria economica", a introdus in 1950 argumentul supravietuirii darwiniste ca forma de explicare ca, chiar daca in realitate companiile nu pot actiona de forma maximizatoare, exista mecanismul concurentei pietelor ce actioneaza ca un proces natural ce elimina  firmele ce nu si-au maximizat beneficiile: din aceasta cauza in orice moment companiile supravietuitoare pot fi considerate maximizatoare. 

Alt articol seminal al lui Armen Alchian este "Production, Information Costs and Economic Organization", publicat in 1972 in colaborare cu H. Demsetz.  si care se referea la o generalizare a teoremei lui  Coase. 

Opera

"Uncertainty, Evolution and Economic Theory", 1950, JPE 
"The Rate of Interest, Fisher's Rate of Return Over Cost and Keynes's Internal Rate of Return", 1955, AER 
"Private Property and the Relative Cost of Tenure", 1958, in Bradley, editor, Public Stake en Union Power. 
"Costs and Outputs", 1959, in Abramovitz, editor, Allocation of Economic Resources 
"Redistribution of Wealth through Inflation", cu R. Kessel, 1959, Science. 
"The Meaning and Validity of the Inflation-Induced Lag of Wages", cu R.A. Kessel, 1960, AER 
"Competition Monopoly and the Pursuit of Pecuniary Gain", con R.A.Kessel, 1962, in Aspects of Labor Economics 
"The Effects of Inflation", con R.A. Kessel, 1962, JPE. 
"Reliability of Progress Curves en Airframe Production", 1963, Econometrica 
University Economics, con W.R. Allen, 1964. 
Exchange and Production, 1964. 
"Some Economics of Property Rights", 1965, Il Politico. 
"Economic and Social Impact of Free Tuition", 1968, New Individualist Review. 
"Cost", 1968, IESS 
"Information Costs, Pricing and Resource Unemployment", 1969, Western EJ 
"Corporate Management and Property Rights", 1969, in Manne, editor, Economic Policy and the Regulation of Corporate Securities. 
"Production, Information Costs and Economic Organization", cu H. Demsetz, 1972, AER 
"On a Correct Measure of Inflation", cu B. Klein, 1973, JMCB. 
"Why Money?", 1977, JMCB 
Economic Forces at Work, 1978 
"Vertical Integration, Appropriable Rents and the Competitive Contracting Process", cu B. Kleen y R.G. Crawford, 1978, J Law Econ