新制度经济学:Williamson的理论及其贡献——从Coase到Williamson理论演进的视角

New Institutional Economics:Williamson's Theory and Contribution——Theory Evolution from Coase to Williamson

Williamson融会贯通了经济学、法学与管理学等多门学科之众长,创造性地发展了由Coase开创的新制度经济学诸范式,并形成了影响深远的交易费用经济学。他通过引入资产专用性等概念刻画交易费用的契约特性,且使之成为一个可量化的实证概念,引领并有力推动着新制度经济学迅速向前发展。在此基础上,Williamson融经济学与法学对契约理论的研究成果于一炉,根据交易费用的不同影响要素对契约类别、治理结构或组织形式做出了精细的区分,从而形成由其首创的分立结构选择分析法。同时他从企业边界与其治理结构等方面改造并完善了Coase构建的现代企业理论。尽管其理论存在诸多瑕疵,并受到包括Coase在内的其他学者诘难,但犹未能遮蔽其思想的精深伟大之处,且对后世经济学或其他跨领域研究有着积极的借鉴意义。

Based on the merits of economics, the science of law and the science of management, Williamson improved in a creative way the modes of Coase＇s New Institutional Economics, and developed the influential Transactional Cost Economics. He described the features of the transactional cost contract by introducing such concepts like asset specificity and made it a measureable empirical concept, leading and pushing the development of the new institutional economics. Based on this, Williamson blended perfectly the research results of economics and the science of law, gave defined explanations to the contract types, management structures or organization forms according to the different influencing elements of transaction costs,then initiated the discrete structure selection analysis. Meanwhile, Williamson remodeled and improved the modern enterprise theory constituted by Coase from the angles of enterprise boundary and management structure. The flaws in his theory and challenges from Coase and his followers still cannot shadow the profoundness and greatness of his thoughts and prevent them from providing positive reference for later research on economics and other interdisciplinary study.