Transaction Economics of John R. Commons

Takahashi reconstructs the key blocks of one of the founders of the institutional school, John R. Commons’ theories of the evolution of capitalism and of institutional change by taking the concept of transaction as a central point of departure.

Commons’ theories continue to influence modern economics, and in this book, Takahashi scrutinizes his construction of transaction and its features and offers a reinterpretation of Commons’ institutional economics and transaction economics. He then explores how Commons’ analysis of going concerns (e.g., firms) has broader and deeper applications that extend to monetary policy, labor policy, and the business cycle. Takahashi examines how Commons’ and Veblen’s dynamic theories share cumulative causation. He closes by positing that Commons’ transaction economics seeks “reasonable capitalism” through a virtuous cycle of reasonable value and generation of good business ethics.

This book will be attractive to researchers of institutional economics, political economy, heterodox economics, as well as the history of economic thought, law, and ethics.