The-Nature-of-the-Firm(科斯企业的性质原文).docxVIP

TheNatureoftheFirm （1937） R.H.COASE Economictheoryhassufferedinthepastfromafailuretostateclearlyitsassumption.Economistsin buildingupatheoryhaveoftenomittedtoexaminethefoundationsonwhichitwaserected 。This examinationis,however,essentialnotonlytopreventthemisunderstandingandneedlescontroversy whicharisefromalackofknowledgeoftheassumptionsonwhichatheoryisbased ，butalsobecause oftheextremeimportanceforeconomicsofgoodjudgmentinchoosingbetweenrivalsetsof assumptions.Forinstance,itissuggestedthattheuseoftheword “firm ”ineconomicsmaybedifferent fromtheuseofthetermbythe “plain。man”’Sincethereisapparentlyatrendineconomictheory towardsstartinganalysiswiththeindividualfirmandnotwiththeindustry,2itisailthemorenecessary notonlythatacleardefinitionoftheword firm shouldbegivenbutthatitsdifferencefromafirmin the”realworld,ifitaists,shouldbemadeclear.Mrs.Robinsonhas saidthat ”thetwoquestionstobe askedofasetofassumptionsineconomicsare:Aretheytractable?And ：Dotheycorrespondwiththe realworld？3Though,asMrs 。Robinsonpointsout, ”Moreoftenonesetwillbemanageableandthe otherrealistic，”yettheremaywellbebranchesoftheorywhereassumptionsmaybebothmanageable andrealistic.Itishopedtoshowinthefollowingpaperthatadefinitionofafirmmaybeobtainedwhichis notonlyrealisticinthatitcorrespondstowhatismeantbyafirmintherealworld ，butistractablebytwo ofthemostpowerfulinstrumentsofeconomicanalysisdevelopedbyMarshall,theideaofthemargin andthatofsubstitution ，togethergivingtheideaofsubstitutionatthemargin.4Ourdefinitionmust ，of course，”relatetoformalrelationswhicharecapableofbeing conceived exactly. ”5 I Itisconvenientif，insearchingforadefinitionofafirm,wefirstconsidertheeconomicsystemasitis normallytreatedbytheeconomist 。LetusconsiderthedescriptionoftheeconomicsystemgivenbySir ArthurSalter6 。“Thenormaleconomicsystemworksitself 。Foritscurrentoperationitisunderno centralcontrol ，itneedsnocentralsurvey.Overthewholerangeofhumanactivityandhumanneed, supplyisadjustedtodemand,and productiontoconsumption ，byaprocessthati