Agent-based computational transaction cost economics

This thesis is concerned with the organization of transactions. A transaction occurs when a good or service is transferred across a technologically separable interface, which is when one stage of activity terminates and another begins. There are different structural forms that can be used for organizing transactions. For example, both stages of activity that a transaction connects can be brought together within a single firm, in which case the firm's hierarchy is used to organize the transaction. Alternatively, the two stages can be distributed across different, specialized firms, in which case the market is used to organize the transaction. In more familiar terms, a firm has to decide between outsourcing and insourcing activities, i.e., between buying components on the market and producing them internally.

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