Toward an economic theory of customary measurement

Glen Whitman

Journal of Institutional Economics, 2023, vol. 19, issue 6, 709-728

Abstract: The article proposes an economic theory of customary measurement systems. The form of such systems is driven by two transaction-cost factors: minimising costs of implementation, and coordinating on shared standards. These factors combine to yield seven principles of customary measurement, supported with illustrative examples from the traditional Anglo-American, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Chinese, and Indian measurement systems. The theory illuminates various confounding features of such systems, including ubiquitous binary patterns, frequent appearance of duodecimal ratios, and persistence of trade-specific measures.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/ ... type/journal_article link to article abstract page (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cup:jinsec:v:19:y:2023:i:6:p:709-728_1

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Institutional Economics from Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press, UPH, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8BS UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Kirk Stebbing ().