Lead:

In life, each of us has to pay transaction costs in different forms in order to realize our own trading behavior. If you are a smoker, you know that the price of cigarettes in the small shop downstairs is 5 cents more expensive than in the mall, but you still buy them in the small shop downstairs.

There is a story in "Han Feizi" about "Zheng people buying shoes":

There was a Zheng Guoren who wanted to go to the market to buy shoes. In the morning, I measured my feet at home and put the measured size in my seat. When he got to the bazaar, when he picked up his shoes, he remembered that he had forgotten his size, so he said to the shoe seller, "I forgot to bring my measured size." So he went home and got his measurements. By the time he returned to the bazaar, the bazaar had already dispersed, and he didn't buy any shoes. Someone said to him, "Why don't you try on shoes with your feet?" The man thought about it and said, "It is better to believe in a measured size than in your own feet." ”

The fable of "Zheng Ren Buys Shoes" is intended to satirize those who are stubborn, dogmatic, inflexible, and do not know how to take flexible countermeasures according to objective reality. Judging from the results of Zheng Ren's purchase of shoes, he made two trips back and forth between the market and his home, wasting a lot of time and energy, and finally did not buy shoes. In the language of economics, his transaction costs are simply too high.

Transaction costs, also known as transaction costs, were first proposed by the American economist Ronald Coase. In his article "The Nature of the Enterprise", he argues that transaction costs are generated through the price mechanism, and the most obvious costs are the cost of all the relative prices, the cost of negotiating and signing every transaction that arises in the market, and the cost of using other aspects of the price mechanism.

Let's look at an example from life:

Xiao Li regards his daughter as a pearl in his palm. One day, her daughter wanted to eat dumplings, so Xiao Li went to line up to buy dumpling wrappers early in the morning, but he didn't expect that there were too many people queuing up to buy dumpling wrappers, and after waiting for a long time, it was finally his turn. When he went home after buying dumpling wrappers, he hurried to work, but he was still 5 minutes late. If you can buy it without queuing, you won't have to bear the loss of being late.

The time it takes for Xiao Li to queue up to buy dumpling wrappers and the losses he suffers from being late are his transaction costs.

Academics generally believe that transaction costs are divided into broad transaction costs and narrow transaction costs. Transaction costs in a broad sense are the tangible and intangible costs required to break through all obstacles and conclude a transaction; Transaction costs in the narrow sense refer to market transaction costs, that is, exogenous transaction costs include search costs, negotiation costs and performance costs.

In general, the transaction cost can be divided into the following items: to find what you need in the dazzling variety of commercial rivers, you must spend a certain amount of time or energy, which is the search cost; The cost of obtaining information from a counterparty and exchanging information with a counterparty is the cost of information; Decision-making costs, i.e., the internal costs required to make relevant decisions and sign contracts; The bargaining cost, i.e., the cost of bargaining for the contract, price, and quality, is because in bargaining, the time delayed should be counted; In addition, there are the negotiation costs for the parties to adjust to the maladaptation and the costs incurred in the event of a default after the transaction has occurred.

In life, each of us has to pay transaction costs in different forms in order to realize our own trading behavior. If you are a smoker, you know that the price of cigarettes in the small shop downstairs is 5 cents more expensive than in the mall, but you still buy them in the small shop downstairs. Although we may not have noticed the concept of transaction cost at all, the act itself already includes transaction cost. Let's briefly analyze it: buy cigarettes in the small shop downstairs, although they cost 5 cents, but you only need to go downstairs to buy cigarettes. If you have to go to the mall, take a car, or walk a long time, you can't afford to spend more time. Spending 5 cents more saves yourself time and energy, which is very cost-effective for the vast majority of people. In other words, the small shop downstairs has already taken into account your transaction costs when setting prices.

Transaction costs are the costs that are necessary when transacting between people. The cost of its own transaction is different for different people. In the wet market, you can see many old ladies and small vendors haggling for a few cents. This is because the old lady is retired, and the time she spends haggling cannot be used elsewhere, and if she can buy cheap vegetables, she will reduce her own cost of living. But if you put it on young people, a few cents more will be more expensive, and if you have time to bargain, you might as well earn more money!

Transaction costs are due to individual needs, and it determines the way we shop. Therefore, consumers must fully consider the best shopping method when purchasing goods, so as to reduce our transaction costs.