In modern economies a substantial proportion of resources is increasingly allocated to transaction costs. An improvement in the definition of transaction costs to include both the information role and efficiency role requires an integration of the approaches of positive economics and normative economics. In The Economics of Transaction Costs P.K.Rao provides a comprehensive analytical treatment of the subject and suggests a few directions for formal economic models.

P. K. RAO is Director at the Centre for Development Research in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Dr Rao has worked at several institutions including Harvard and Rutgers Universities and has undertaken several major consultancy studies.

Preface PART I: THEORY AND METHODS Background Elements of Industrial Organization Economic Externalities New Neoclassical Economics New Institutional Economics PART II: APPLICATIONS Law and Economics Behavioural Economics Organizations Theory Environmental Economics Perspectives Glossary Index