 An Indirect Approach to the Identification and Measurement of Transaction CostsGeorge S. Rivers Chapter 13 in The Economics of E-Commerce and Networking Decisions, 2003, pp 267-297 from Palgrave Macmillan Abstract: Abstract Nobel Laureate Ronald Coase had previously argued, in his paper titled ‘The Nature of the Firm’, that exchange was not costless and that ‘the most obvious cost of organizing production through the price mechanism is that of discovering what the relevant prices are’ (1937, p. 390). Coase identified the nature of such price discovery costs as being ‘the cost of negotiating and concluding a separate contract for each exchange transaction’ (1937, p. 390). Understanding the exact nature of such transaction costs becomes crucial for attaining transaction efficiency and thereby minimizing the cost of transactions. Moreover, transaction costs are seen to have deep implications for not only resource allocation but also the assignment of property rights and the structure of economic organization (Eggertsson, 1990). Put simply, transaction costs can be defined as being: ‘the costs incurred to achieve the benefits of exchange and cooperation’ (Denzau, 1992, p. 34). Keywords: Labour Market; Transaction Cost; Market Exchange; Agency Cost; Search Cost (search for similar items in EconPapers) There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-4039-3837-4_13 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan |
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