Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface to the Third Edition
- Preface to the Second Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- Part I Conceptualissues
- 1 The Neoclassical Problem
- 2 Economic Property Rights
- 3 Transaction Costs
- 4 Information Costs
- 5 The Theory of Economic Property Rights
- Part II Contracts, Organizations, And Institutions
- 6 Exchange, Contracts, and Contract Choice
- 7 Divided Ownership and Organization
- 8 Institutions
- Part III Establishing Property Rights
- 9 Capture in the Public Domain
- 10 Forming Property Rights
- 11 Benefits of the Public Domain
- Part IV Non-Price Allocation And Other Issues
- 12 Nonwage Labor Markets
- 13 Property Rights in Non-market Allocations
- 14 Additional Property Rights Applications
- 15 The Property Rights Model
- References
- Index
- Political Economy of Institutions And Decisions
4 - Information Costs
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 August 2023
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface to the Third Edition
- Preface to the Second Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- Part I Conceptualissues
- 1 The Neoclassical Problem
- 2 Economic Property Rights
- 3 Transaction Costs
- 4 Information Costs
- 5 The Theory of Economic Property Rights
- Part II Contracts, Organizations, And Institutions
- 6 Exchange, Contracts, and Contract Choice
- 7 Divided Ownership and Organization
- 8 Institutions
- Part III Establishing Property Rights
- 9 Capture in the Public Domain
- 10 Forming Property Rights
- 11 Benefits of the Public Domain
- Part IV Non-Price Allocation And Other Issues
- 12 Nonwage Labor Markets
- 13 Property Rights in Non-market Allocations
- 14 Additional Property Rights Applications
- 15 The Property Rights Model
- References
- Index
- Political Economy of Institutions And Decisions
Summary
Information costs are the source of positive transaction costs. This chapter discusses the relationship between the two types of costs, and notes that a particular type of information cost matters. Commodities are complex because they are made up of bundles of attributes which vary in nature and are alterable by humans. The inability to separate and know these two sources of variance is what lies at the heart of positive transaction costs.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Economic Analysis of Property Rights , pp. 50 - 63Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023