L'approche néo­institutionnelle des coûts de transaction

Surveying Williamson's and New institutional economists' works, this article presents the main teaching of transaction cost economics. I attempt to study if this analytical framework could became the paradigm for the economics of the production system. I begin by presenting the factors which lead economic agents to coordinate their activities within hierarchies and institutions rather than through market mechanisms. Afterward, I expose the difficulties linked to formalization and empirical approaches issued from transaction costs economics. In the second part, transaction cost theory is compared to other contemporary analytical frameworks developed to analyze the economic nature of contracts and institutions (Agency Theory, Property Rights Economics, « New » Industrial Organization). It allows to specify the originality of this theoretical framework within the field of economic theories.Broussoau Eric. L'approche néo­institutionnelle des coûts de transaction. In: Revue française d'économie, volume 4, n°4, 1989. pp. 123-166