ABSTRACT

This final chapter will pull together the elements of the discussion by returning to the themes set out in Chapter 1. In particular the special case status of transaction cost reasoning will be examined from two perspectives: static—dynamic analysis and individual— social causation. It should be clear from Chapters 2 to 10 that transaction cost economics ignores the complexities of a dynamic analysis within a social context by (implicitly) assuming unchanged governance structure benefits. This is, of course, a perfectly acceptable approach, in a methodological sense, if the insights gained from the analysis are not generalised beyond appropriate analytical bounds that are set by the assumed conditions. It is clear from the analysis presented in this work that transaction cost economics does stray beyond the bounds of acceptability.