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Transaction Costs, History Of

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Abstract

While the basic insight that underlies the transaction cost concept is probably as old as human reflection on economic issues itself, it became associated in the 19th century with the notion of economic friction, which was subsequently expressed as a cost. Historically, the transaction cost concept has developed from narrow interpretations typical of the monetary and general equilibrium literature towards relational interpretations, based on particular market microstructural models of how economic agents interact with each other, and finally with institutional interpretations embracing a more general analysis of economic institutions, including market and non-market forms of coordination.

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  1. http://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5

    M. Klaes

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Klaes, M. (2018). Transaction Costs, History Of. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2826

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