Transaction-cost economics and the organization of agricultural transactions

Scott E. Masten

doi:10.1016/S0278-0984(00)09050-7

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Advances in Applied Microeconomics

ISSN: 0278-0984
Series editor(s): Professor Michael Baye, Professor John Maxwell

Subject Area: Economics

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Transaction-cost economics and the organization of agricultural transactions

Document Information:
Title:	Transaction-cost economics and the organization of agricultural transactions
Author(s):	Scott E. Masten
Volume:	9 Editor(s): Michael R. Baye ISBN: 978-0-76230-687-9 eISBN: 978-1-84950-064-7
Citation:	Scott E. Masten (2000), Transaction-cost economics and the organization of agricultural transactions, in Michael R. Baye (ed.) Industrial Organization (Advances in Applied Microeconomics, Volume 9), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.173-195
DOI:	10.1016/S0278-0984(00)09050-7 (Permanent URL)
Publisher:	Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Article type:	Full length article
Abstract:	This chapter discusses the logic, hypotheses, empirical methods, and principal findings of the transaction-cost approach to economic organization as a foundation for analyzing the organization of agricultural transactions. In contrast to textbook characterizations of agriculture as the quintessential spot market, agricultural transactions display a broad range of governance arrangements. The chapter traces the use of these arrangements to the location-specific nature of investments and, especially, to temporal specificities associated with the perishability of many agricultural products. Case studies of the governance of fruit, vegetable, and dairy processing; the emergence of multinational firms in the banana trade; the evolution of contractual relations between tuna harvesters and processors; and the governance of transactions between cattle feedlots, slaughtering, and beef fabrication operations illustrate the arguments.