Quotes About Transaction costs

A recognition of the impossibility of exact perfection lay behind the work of a few economists, such as Herbert Simon's satisficing, Ronald Coase's transaction costs, George Shackle's and Israel Kirzner's reaffirmation of the old Yogi Berra jest: it's hard to predict, especially about the future.

We must also cap ATM fees at $2.00. People should not have to pay a 10 percent fee for withdrawing $40 of their own money out of an ATM.

English businesses would face massive transaction costs if Scotland, their second biggest export market, used a different currency.

Ronald Coase, in his classic 1937 paper on 'The Nature of the Firm,' was the first to bring the concept of transaction costs to bear on the study of firm and market organization.

Like its agriculture, Africa's markets are highly under-capitalized and inefficient. We know from our work around the continent that transaction costs of reaching the market, and the risks of transacting in rural, agriculture markets, are extremely high. In fact, only one third of agricultural output produced in Africa even reaches the market.

Last year, Congress passed a law that directs the Federal Reserve to set limits on debit card swipe fees that are reasonable and proportional to the cost of processing those transactions. Like most Americans, I had no idea that swipe fees charged to American businesses are the highest in the world.

By contrast, people who do not trust one another will end up cooperating only under a system of formal rules and regulations, which have to be negotiated, agreed to, litigated, and enforced, sometimes by coercive means. This legal apparatus, serving as a substitute for trust, entails what economists call "transaction costs." Widespread distrust in a society, in other words, imposes a kind of tax on all forms of economic activity, a tax that high-trust societies do not have to pay.

The mechanisms that have traditionally been suggested for understanding companies can be divided into three broad categories: transaction costs, organizational structure, and competition in the marketplace.

The gold standard had its advantages, no doubt. Exchange rate stability made for predictable pricing in trade and reduced transaction costs, while the long-run stability of prices acted as an anchor for inflation expectations. Being on gold may also have reduced the costs of borrowing by committing governments to pursue prudent fiscal and monetary policies.

Reducing coordination and transaction costs is at the heart of Lean. It is waste elimination in its most potent form. It allows smaller batches to become efficient. It enables business agility. Reducing coordination and transaction costs is game changing.

Transaction costs can arise before any business is done. Locating potential trading partners may be costly and time-consuming. Comparing alternative sellers and choosing among them takes effort by the buyer. The quality of the goods for sale is often not immediately apparent, and the buyer may have to go to some trouble to evaluate it. If it cannot be reliably checked, the buyer might be reluctant to purchase.

Transaction costs use up resources in ways that are unrelated to the actual value of the business to be done. In the extreme, transaction costs can cause markets to be dysfunctional.

A still more extreme market malfunction occurs if the costs of transacting are so high as to swamp any potential benefits from the deal. Transaction costs can thwart exchanges that would otherwise be worthwhile. Unemployment exists, for example, not simply because there are too few jobs, but also because transaction costs in the labor market prevent some employers and job seekers from connecting with each other. A new way of doing business that lowers transaction costs can benefit everyone.