A number of kinds of transaction cost have come to be known by particular names. Search and information costs are costs such as those incurred in determining that the required good is available on the market, who has the lowest price, etc.. Bargaining costs are the costs required to come to an acceptable agreement with the other party to the transaction, drawing up an appropriate contract, etc.. Policing and enforcement costs are the costs of making sure the other party sticks to the terms of the contract, and taking appropriate action (often through the legal system) if this turns out not to be the case.
The term "transaction cost" was coined by Ronald Coase, who used it to develop a theoretical framework for predicting when certain economic tasks would be performed by firms, and when they would be performed on the market, work later taken up by Oliver Williamson.
These days, Transaction Cost Economics is used to explain a number of different behaviors. Often this involves considering as "transactions" not only the obvious cases of buying and selling, but also day-to-day emotional interactions, informal gift exchanges, etc.. ...
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