Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Handbook of New Institutional Economics pp 41–65Cite as

Transaction Cost Economics

  • Chapter

Keywords

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (Canada)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   259.00
Price excludes VAT (Canada)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   329.99
Price excludes VAT (Canada)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Anderson, Erin and David C. Schmittlein. 1984. “Integration of the Sales Force: An Empirical Examination”. Rand Journal of Economics 15(3): 385–395.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bajari, Patrick and Steven Tadelis. 2001. “Incentives Versus Transaction Costs: A Theory of Procurement Contracts”. Rand Journal of Economics 32: 387–407.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnard, Chester I. 1938. The Functions of the Executive. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron, James N. and David M. Kreps. 1999. Strategic Human Resources: Frameworks for General Managers. New York: John Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, Gary. 1962. “Investment in Human Capital: Effects on Earnings”. Journal of Political Economy 70: 9–49.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Boerner, Christopher and Jeffrey Macher. 2002. “Transaction Cost Economics: A Review and Assessment of the Empirical Literature”. Unpublished manuscript.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brennan, G. and James Buchanan. 1985. The Reason of Rules. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buchanan, James M. 1975. “A Contractarian Paradigm for Applying Economic Theory”. American Economic Review 65: 225–230.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1987. “The Constitution of Economic Policy”. American Economic Review 77: 243–250.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 2001. “Game Theory, Mathematics, and Economics,” Journal of Economic Methodology 8: 27–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buchanan, James M. and G. Tullock. 1962. The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coase, Ronald H. 1937. “The Nature of the Firm”. Economica 4: 386–405.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1960. “The Problem of Social Cost”. Journal of Law and Economics 3: 1–44.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1972. “Industrial Organization: A Proposal for Research” in V. R. Fuchs (ed), Policy Issues and Research Opportunities in Industrial Organization. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, pp. 59–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1984. “The New Institutional Economics”. Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 140: 229–231.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1992. “The Institutional Structure of Production”. American Economic Review 82: 713–719.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crocker, Keith J. and Scott E. Masten. 1991. “Pretia ex Machina? Prices and Process in Long-Term Contracts”. Journal of Law and Economics XXXIV(1): 69–99.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1996. “Regulation and Administered Contracts Revisited: Lessons from Transaction-Cost Economics for Public Utility Regulation”. Journal of Regulatory Economics 8: 5–39.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Demsetz, Harold. 1968. “Why Regulate Utilities?” Journal of Law and Economics 11: 55–66.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Dixit, Avinash K. 1996. The Making of Economic Policy: A Transaction-Cost Politics Perspective. Boston, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easterbrook, Frank and D. Fischel. 1986. “Close Corporations and Agency Costs”. Stanford Law Review 38: 271–301.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fama, Eugene F. and Michael C. Jensen. 1983. “Separation of Ownership and Control”. Journal of Law and Economics 26: 301–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, Milton. 1962. Capitalism and Freedom, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gely, Rafael and Pablo T. Spiller. 1990. A Rational Choice Theory of Supreme Court Statutory Decisions with Applications to the State Farm and Grove City Cases”. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 6(2): 263–300.

    Google Scholar 

  • Georgescu-Roegen, Nicholas. 1971. The Entropy Law and Economic Process. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, Victor P. 1976. “Regulation and Administered Contracts”. Bell Journal of Economics 7(2): 426–448.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, Victor P. and John R. Erickson. 1987. “Quantity and Price Adjustment in Long-Term Contracts: A Case Study of Petroleum Coke”. Journal of Law and Economics XXX(2): 369–398.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Hart, Oliver. 1995. Firms, Contracts and Financial Structure. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayek, Friedrich. 1945. “The Use of Knowledge in Society”. American Economic Review 35:519–530.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmstrom, Bengt and Jean Tirole. 1989. “The Theory of the Firm” in R. Schmalensee and R. Willig (eds.), Handbook of Industrial Organization. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • John, George and Barton A. Weitz. 1988. “Forward Integration into Distribution: An Empirical Test of Transaction Cost Analysis”. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 4(2): 337–355.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joskow, Paul L. 1985. “Vertical Integration and Long-Term Contracts: The Case of Coal-Burning Electric Generating Plants”. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 1(1): 33–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1987. “Contract Duration and Relationship-Specific Investments: Empirical Evidence from Coal Markets”. American Economic Review 77(1): 168–185.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 2000. “Transaction Cost Economics and Competition Policy”. Unpublished manuscript.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenney, Roy W. and Benjamin Klein. 1983. “The Economics of Block Booking,” Journal of Law and Economics XXVI(3): 497–540.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, Benjamin. 1988. “Vertical Integration as Organizational Ownership: The Fisher Body-General Motors Relationship Revisited”. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 4(1): 199–213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leffler, Keith B. and Randal R. Rucker. 1991. “Transactions Costs and the Efficient Organization of Production: A Study of Timber-Harvesting Contracts”. Journal of Political Economy 99(5): 1060–1087.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Levy, Brian and Pablo T. Spiller. 1994. “The Institutional Foundations of Regulatory Commitment: A Comparative Analysis of Telecommunications Regulation”. Journal of Law Economics, and Organization 10(2): 201–246.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyons, B. R. 1996. “Empirical Relevance of Efficient Contract Theory: Inter-Firm Contracts”. Oxford Review of Economic Policy 12(4): 27–52.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Makowski, L. and J. Ostroy. 2001. “Perfect Competition and the Creativity of the Market”. Journal of Economic Literature 32: 479–535.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masten, Scott E. 1984. “The Organization of Production: Evidence from the Aerospace Industry”. Journal of Law and Economics XXVII(2): 403–417.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Masten, Scott E. and Keith J. Crocker. 1985. “Efficient Adaptation in Long-Term Contracts: Take-or-Pay Provisions for Natural Gas”. American Economic Review 75(5): 1083–1093.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. and S. Saussier. 2000. “Econometrics of Contracts: An Assessment of Developments in the Empirical Literature on Contracting”. Revue D'Economie Industrielle 92: 215–236.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. and Edward A. Snyder. 1993. “United States versus United Shoe Machinery Corporation: On the Merits”. Journal of Law and Economics XXXVI(1) (Part 1): 33–70.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • ____. James W. Meehan, Jr., and Edward A. Snyder. 1991. “The Costs of Organization”. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 7Z(1): 1–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merton, Robert. 1936. “The Unanticipated Consequences of Purposive Social Action”. American Sociological Review 1: 894–904.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michels, R. 1962. Political Parties. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monteverde, Kirk and David J. Teece. 1982. “Supplier Switching Costs and Vertical Integration in the Automobile Industry”. Bell Journal of Economics 13(1): 206–213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulherin, J. Harold (1986): “Complexity in Long-Term Contracts: An Analysis of Natural Gas Contractual Provisions”. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 2(1): 105–117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, R. R. and S. G. Winter. 1982. An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Cambridge: Belknap Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newell, A. and Herbert Simon. 1972. Human Problem Solving. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • North, Douglas. 2000. “A Revolution in Economics” in Claude Menard (ed.), Institutions, Contracts, and Organizations. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, pp. 37–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palay, Thomas M. 1984. “Comparative Institutional Economics: The Governance of Rail Freight Contracting”. Journal of Legal Studies XIII(2): 265–287.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Peltzman, Sam. 1991. “The Handbook of Industrial Organization: A Review Article”. Journal of Political Economy 99: 201–217.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Peltzman, Sam and Michael Whinston. 2000. Deregulation of Network Industries. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Posner, Richard A. 1972. “The Appropriate Scope of Regulation in the Cable Television Industry”. Bell Journal of Economics 3: 98–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1986. Economic Analysis of Law, 3rd edn. Boston: Little Brown.

    Google Scholar 

  • Priest, George L. 1993. “The Origins of Utility Regulation and the ‘Theories of Regulation’ Debate”. Journal of Law and Economics XXXVI(1) (Part 2): 289–323.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Reder, M. W. 1999. Economics: The Culture of a Controversial Science. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rindfleish, A. and Jan Heide. 1997. “Transaction Cost Analysis: Past, Present and Future Applications”. Journal of Marketing 61: 30–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robbins, Lionel. 1932. An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothband, Murray. 1987. “Catallactics” in J. Eatwell, M. Milgate, and P. Newman (eds.), The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, Vol. 1. New York: The Stockton Press, pp. 377–378.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salanié, Bernard. 1997. The Economics of Contracts: A Primer. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, R. W. 1992. Organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Selznick, Philip. 1949. TVA and the Grass Roots. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1950. “The Iron Law of Bureaucracy”. Modern Review 3: 157–165.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shelanski, Howard A. and Peter G. Klein. 1995. “Empirical Research in Transaction Cost Economics: A Review and Assessment”. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 11: 335–361.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shultz, George. 1995. “Economics in Action”. American Economic Review 85: 1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, Herbert A. 1947. Administrative Behavior. New York: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1957a. Administrative Behavior. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1957b. Models of Man: Social and Rational; Mathematical Essays on Rational Human Behavior in a Social Setting. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1983. Reason in Human Affairs. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1991. “Organizations and Markets”. Journal of Economic Perspectives 5: 25–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solow, Robert. 2001. “A Native Informant Speaks”. Journal of Economic Methodology 8: 111–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, J. S. 1967. Organizations in Action: Social Science Bases of Administrative Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Varian, Hal. 2002. “If There Was a New Economy, Why Wasn't There a New Economics?” New York Times, January 17, C2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weingast, Barry and William J. Marshall. 1988. “The Industrial Organization of Congress: or, Why Legislatures, Like Firms, Are Not Organized as Markets”. Journal of Political Economy 96(1): 132–163.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Werin, Lars. 2000. “Ronald Coase and the New Microeconomics” in Claude Menard (ed.), Institutions, Contracts, and Organizations. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, pp. 42–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, Oliver E. 1975. Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications. New York: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1976. “Franchise Bidding for Natural Monopolies—In General and with Respect to CATV”. Bell Journal of Economics 7(1): 73–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1979. “Assessing Vertical Market Restrictions: Antitrust Ramifications of the Transaction Cost Approach”. University of Pennsylvania Law Review 127: 953–993.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1985. The Economic Institutions of Capitalism. New York: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1988. “Corporate Finance and Corporate Governance”. Journal of Finance 43: 567–591.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1989. “Transaction Cost Economics” in Richard Schmalensee and Robert Willig, (eds.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, Vol. 1. New York: North Holland, pp. 136–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1994. “Evaluating Coase”. Journal of Economic Perspectives 8: 201–204.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1996. The Mechanisms of Governance. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1998. “Transaction Cost Economics: How It Works; Where It Is Headed”. De Economist 146: 23–58.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • ____. 1999. “Public and Private Bureaucracies”. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 15: 306–342.

    Google Scholar 

  • ____. 2002a. “The Theory of the Firm as a Governance Structure: From Choice to Contract”. Journal of Economic Perspectives 16: 171–195.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • ____. 2002b. “The Lens of Contract: Private Ordering”. American Economic Review 92:438–443.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, Oliver E. and Janet Bercovitz. 1996. “The Modern Corporation as an Efficiency Instrument” in Carl Kaysen (ed.), The American Corporation Today. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 327–359.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Oliver E. Williamson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Paris (Pantheon-Sorbonne), France

    Claude Menard

  2. The Ronald Coase Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA

    Mary M. Shirley

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2005 Springer

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Williamson, O.E. (2005). Transaction Cost Economics. In: Menard, C., Shirley, M.M. (eds) Handbook of New Institutional Economics. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-25092-1_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

search

Navigation