Transaction Costs and Economic Performance: An Institutional Approach

The institutional arrangements, such as the property private order, market, law and other social institutions, governance, cannot function without certain costs. Such costs are not generally or necessarily measurable, but their identification helps understanding how the economic activity is organised and, therefore, appropriately explaining its performances. The study illustrates the fundamental theoretical research on the issue of transaction costs, as reflected in the institutional analysis entitled Transaction Costs Economics. The inherent connection between the transaction costs and the entrepreneurial activity indicates the need to restate and extend the neoclassical approach. The argument calls up the institutional context of the property rights, which are in fact decisive for the manifestation of entrepreneurship. The restatement of the approach relates to knowing the fact that the property rights and the transaction costs influence the entrepreneurial activity and, therefore, the overall economic performances.