交易费用理论综述

交易费用概念由科斯创立并成为新制度经济学的核心范畴。交易费用的内涵有交易分工说、交易合约说、交易维度说、制度成本论、交易行为说等典型观点。交易费用的构成主要包括搜寻信息、达成合同、签订合同、监督合同履行和违约后寻求赔偿的费用。宏观和微观层面的交易费用测度结果表明,降低交易费用是一个重大的经济研究课题。因而,交易费用理论在国家理论、产业理论和企业理论中均得到广泛运用。交易费用的测度、交易费用理论对转型国家的解释以及用交易费用理论指导中国的改革等方面的研究,均有可能获得创新性成果。

A Review of the Transaction Cost Theory

The concept of transaction cost introduced by Ronald Coase has become the core of the New Institutional Economics .It not only provides a new perspective for the analysis of general economic theory ,but also has strong explanatory power for the practical economic phenomenon , in the transition countries in particular .Transaction Cost Theory (TCT) has become a hotspot in economics and related disciplines .A comprehensive summary and review on TCT will contribute to its further development . The ideas of″transaction″ by Aristotle and Commons ,and″transaction incurred costs″ by Gounod and Marx are the ideological origins of the concept of″transaction cost .″ The proposal term of″transaction cost″ is a great challenge to the neoclassical economics that treats the enterprise as a″black box .″ Today ,the transaction cost theory is widely used to explain a number of different behaviors and it attracts increasing attentions in both academic researches and policymaking . Various broad definitions of the phrase″transaction cost″ are used in literature from different viewpoints .This paper clarifies them as transaction division ,transaction contract ,transaction dimension ,institutional cost and transaction behavior . A comparison and summary of these viewpoints outlines an overall picture from different angles and enhances the understanding of TCT .Transaction costs consist of five major components : searching cost ,negotiating cost , contracting cost ,monitoring cost and enforcement cost .In addition ,we distinguish the concept of the″transaction cost″ from the″production cost″ and″circulation cost .″ The measurement of transaction cost is critical at the empirical level .Arguably ,there is no consistent approach to measure the exact value .For most macro analysis ,transaction cost is overestimated and this bias shows increasing trend over time .The assessment for transaction cost at a micro-level mainly focuses on some specific sectors/firms .The evaluation on public sector is relatively rare .However ,most studies exhibit a high proportion of the transaction cost in total costs ,which call for the importance to cut the transaction cost . TCT promotes the development of the state theory ,industry theory and the theory of firms .Also it provides a solid foundation to test the reliability and robustness of these theories .As the core of the New Institutional Economics ,TCT is expected to yield innovative outcome in multidisciplines ,such as the technique development of the measurement of transaction cost ,the application of TCT on transition countries ,the policy implication and guidance for China,s reform and so on .In a word ,the development of TCT is worthwhile and requires further in-depth inputs .