交易费用理论综述

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交易费用理论综述

作者:沈满洪张兵兵

来源:《浙江大学学报(人文社会科学版)》2013年第01期

[摘要] 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。

[关键词] 交易费用;新制度经济学;文献综述;研究展望

A Review of the Transaction Cost Theory

Shen Manhong Zhang Bingbing

(College of Economics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China)

Abstract: 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 econ omics 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 defini tions 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 microlevel 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 Chinas reform and so on.In a word, the development of TCT is worthwhile and requires further indepth inputs.

Key words: transaction cost; new institutional economics; literature review; research prospect

交易费用概念的提出是对新古典经济学的一种挑战,它为分析经济理论及经济现象提供了全新的视角。以交易费用理论为核心的新制度经济学已经发展成为现代经济学的重要分支,它对经济现象尤其是转型国家的经济问题具有极强的解释力,因此,交易费用理论成为一个长盛不衰的经济学研究热点。对交易费用理论进行述评,有助于推动该理论的进一步发展和完善。

一、交易费用概念的渊源与提出

(一)古典哲学意义上的交易

古希腊哲学家亚里士多德最先使用“交易”这一概念,并将其分为商业交易、金融货币交易和劳动力交易三类[1]25,33。虽然这与新制度经济学中的交易有很大不同,但亚里士多德将交易与生产加以区分,定义交易为“人与人之间的关系”,为交易及交易费用理论的发展奠定了坚实的基础。

(二)旧制度经济学意义上的交易

将交易引入比较严格的经济学范畴的是制度经济学家康芒斯,他定义交易为人类活动的基本单位,是制度经济学的最小单位。康芒斯进一步将交易分为买卖的交易、管理的交易和限额的交易三种类型[2]8。虽然康芒斯对交易作了严格的分类,但忽视了交易是需要成本的,没有把交易与成本结合起来,而零成本的交易与经济现实大相径庭。

法国著名数学家古诺发现,交易过程中的损耗是不可避免的,交易各方都需要克服摩擦,而商业范围的扩张和商业设施的发展可以使摩擦减少并趋于理想的状况[3]22。马克思认为,商业的专门化节约了用于商品买卖的资本,但却招致了流通费用,包括纯粹的流通费用、保管

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