MEASURING TRANSACTION COSTS: DIVERGING APPROACHES, CONTENDING PRACTICES

Ning Wang ()
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Ning Wang: School of Global Studies, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-5102, USA

Division of Labor & Transaction Costs (DLTC), 2007, vol. 02, issue 02, 111-146

Abstract: This paper brings order to the vast conceptual and empirical literature on measuring transaction costs. It critically reviews the broad and diverse landscape of the field of transaction costs measurement, ranging from financial economics, Williamsonian transaction cost economics, the transaction sector, non-marketed transaction costs, environmental economics and natural resource management, institutions and development, and the economics of identity. Three sources of and three approaches to transaction costs are identified. Though the literature as a whole appears in disarray, each research program is driven by its own internal dynamics between conceptual and empirical challenges. The paper proposes that a systematic investigation of the light that the concept of transaction cost sheds on the structure of production stands out as a most promising approach to move the field forward.

Keywords: Transaction costs; transaction cost economics; transaction cost measurement; structure of production (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C62 D E1 F F11 F12 F16 J2 J3 L O (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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DOI: 10.1142/S0219871107000324

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