ABSTRACT
The use of the term “transaction” has changed and evolved over time. Although John Commons’s idea of transaction is chronologically older (and more analytically comprehensive) than that of Coase, this chapter starts from Coase’s idea(s) of transaction, and then it comes back to the original formulation by John Commons. This is because the use of transaction in the literature increased exponentially only after Coase’s “The problem of social cost.” This chapter also considers several refinements to the conception of transaction, as proposed by other prominent institutionalists, such as Robert Lee Hale and Oliver Williamson. Hale explains that there is duress and coercion in each transaction, including in market transactions, and Williamson characterizes the transaction in terms of technological attributes.
