The metaphors of Transaction Cost Economics

Huascar Fialho Pessali ()
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Cássio Frederico Camargo Rolim

No 49, Working Papers from Universidade Federal do Paraná, Department of Economics

Abstract: Metaphors are part of our daily lives as they help us understand the world and economics, as other areas of knowledge, cannot go without metaphors. Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) is no different to other intellectual construction and has been built on a set of key metaphors. This article discusses three of these metaphors: transaction costs as frictions, human beings as “contractual men,” and natural selection between mechanisms of governance. It scrutinises their potential to help Williamson’s theory gain adherence from and be recognised as relevant by his peers. It discusses some possibilities of how the initial choice or formulation of key TCE metaphors may mould intellectual exchanges and direct theoretical developments.

Keywords: transaction cost economics; metaphors; Oliver Williamson; theory of the firm; institutions of economics; institutional economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
Note: Creation Date corresponds to the year in which the paper was published on the Department of Economics website. The paper may have been written a small number of months before its publication date.

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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fup:wpaper:0049

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