Description

In standard economic theory, markets exist to allocate and distribute a nation's wealth through the process of exchange. The way in which a society organises these markets and the purposes to which the resulting structures are put, cannot be understood without in turn comprehending the way in which industries are organised within that economy, specifically the contractual arrangements that facilitate economic exchange. The course will analyse markets, firms and government as simply three different institutional or governance structures that serve to accomplish given economic objectives. The issue then becomes not which one should be utilised, but which is the most efficient mix. The actual mix chosen will depend upon the comparative transaction costs of using each one.