Credit Crisis and Transaction Cost

beckhan

Credit Crisis and Transaction Cost A True Case Chaoshan Area lies in the Southeast of Guangdong Province of China that is adjacent to Hong Kong and is the front line of Economic Reform of China. In addition, people in this area are famous for their diligence and wisdom. So, the economy of Chaoshan developed fast in the first few years of Economic Reform. However, in recent years, the economic growth rate of this area decreased sharply.(database) Why did Chaoshan area lose its own competition advantage gradually? In this essay, I will discuss this issue form the aspect of relationship between Credit Crisis and Transaction Cost. I. Cause of The Problem The prosperity of Chaoshan Area traced back to the 1980s. It was the time of marketing economy reform, and the entire society was in the stage of transformation. On the one hand, the old system had not been abolished thoroughly; on the other hand, the new system had not been established entirely. At this time, the sophisticated Chaoshan merchants found the furthersome chance. They become more and more affluent through making the full use of their location and the convenient information, being imitative of producing all sorts of commodities that are from the stationary、costume to the home appliance in vogue. However, in the recent years, the economy of Pearl River Delta is developing at very fast speed with the progress of China’s economy system reform. Meanwhile, the industry frame is being adjusted and transferred. All of these factors have made Chaoshan Aera lose its predominance gradually. Lately the phenomena of the bogus value-added tax invoice and making the counterfeit products occurred frequently in Chaoshan Area and caused the Chaoshan people who were formerly called “Eastern Jew” were in the shadow of being discreditable, thus the area economy was plunged into a vicious circle. 3. Credit Crisis and Transaction Cost Transaction Cost theory came of the 1930s, and from the middle period of the 1970s, it became the most active school of the modern economy. Especially among the young economists, most of them made after this classical theory. The most direct origin making the Transaction Cost Economic come into being was the great thesis of Ronald H.Coase---<<企业的性质>>. He explained why corporation appeared and the boundary problem of the scale of the corporation by using the Transaction Cost theory. Since then, Williamson expatiated the Transaction Cost theory on the basis of Coase’s. And in this essay, the analysis is according to his two hypothesizes of the trading behavior. Williamson assumed that the two sides of the trade had two different characteristics: the inclination of the opportunism behavior and the limited rationality of the doer. In other words, in the course of the trading, the covenanter has the inclination of the opportunism behavior in nature, which is through the Roman holiday to satisfy his self-interest. When it comes to the limited rationality, people can be well-judged when they estimate the possible time and method of the upcoming trade and then take the precautionary measure. But it costs so much transaction cost in the whole process. So obviously, the inclination of the opportunism behavior leads to the speculative events such as cheating consumer, forging contract and so on, and this is the root of the Credit Crisis. In the face of the Credit Crisis, rational people have to make various efficient measures in order to prevent the cheat or fraud, which increases the transaction cost directly. More seriously, the market will be back up to the original stage so much as “ready money business”. The transaction cost means the tremendous losing and wasting of the social wealth. By contraries, people will enjoy all wealth created by themselves without the transaction cost. This is the famous hypothesis of the western dominating school: the wealth will be maximum if the transaction cost is zero. The delict of some Chaoshan corporations brings to a crisis of the credit. From the microeconomic point of view, the transaction cost among different corporations or units goes up, and the trade becomes more and more difficult. At the moment, one side of the trading inevitably begins to seek its partner who is easier to trade with. And from the macroeconomic point of view, the external investment will decrease because of the transaction risk led by the credit crisis. The rational people are certain to invest in the much safer areas to obtain the prospective revenue. As we know, the reduction of the investment can take an adverse impact on the local economy. 信用危机与交易成本 一个小的案例 潮汕地区位于广东省东南部，处于改革开放的第一线，又毗邻港澳，加之潮汕人的勤劳能干，所以该地区在我国经济体制改革的浪潮中率先走在了全国的前列。然而近年来，该地区的经济增长明显放慢（数据）。到底是什么原因导致潮汕地区在竞争中逐渐丧失了自己的优势呢？在本文下面的阐述中，我将从信用危机与交易成本的角度来对这个问题加以分析。 一、问题的缘起 潮汕地区的繁荣还要从上个世纪80年代讲起。当时正值我国的市场经济体制改革，整个社会都处在转型阶段。一方面，旧的制度还没有完全废除，另一方面，新的制度又没有完全建立。对市场有着敏锐嗅觉的潮汕商人，在这当中发现了自己的商机。他们利用毗邻港澳的信息优势，通过仿制国外流行的各种商品，从文具，服装，到家用电器等等，迅速走上了发家致富的道路。然而近年来，随着我国经济体制改革的不断深入，珠江三角洲地区经济的飞速发展，以及产业结构的调整和转移，使得潮汕地区的优势逐渐被取代了。最近该地企业更是频频发生虚开增值税发票，制造假冒伪劣商品等事件。使原本有着“东方犹太人”美誉的潮汕人蒙上了“不守信用”的阴影，使地区经济进入一种恶性循环当中。 二、信用的危机 潮汕地区部分企业的不法行为，给整个地区的总体形象带来了非常负面的影响。“汕货”更是成了假冒伪劣的代名词。外地企业在和当地企业做生意的时候都非常小心，生怕上当受骗。在某种程度上，这种现象已经是一种信用危机了。信用（Credit）一词本意是人对他人的信任，讲信用就是注重维护他人对自己的信任。自从人类社会产生了交易活动，也就产生了交易活动中的信用关系。信用作为一种基本道德准则，是指人们在日常交往中应当诚信无欺，遵守诺言的行为准则。作为经济活动中的基本要求，信用是指一种建立在授信人对受信人偿付承诺信任的基础上，使后者无须付现即可获取商品、服务或货币的能力。 然而目前我国大部分地区尚不具备完善的信用制度，市场交易中失信行为的大量存在和蔓延正在破坏市场信用的健康发展，增加市场交易的风险。潮汕地区的信用危机正是如此。部分外地企业为了保障交易安全，双方交易甚至倒退到“一手交钱，一手交货”的原始状态，市场效率受到严重影响，直接导致交易费用的增加。 三、信用危机与交易成本 交易成本理论起源于上个世纪三十年代，自七十年代中叶以来，它成为现代经济学发展中最为活跃的学派。尤其在年轻一代的经济学家中，从者甚众。促成交易成本经济学产生的最为直接的理论渊源是科斯的经典论文《企业的性质》。他以交易成本解释了企业为什么会出现，以及企业规模的边界问题。威廉姆森在科斯的基础上进一步系统的阐述了交易成本理论。本文的分析也就是结合威廉姆森关于交易主体的两个基本假设来进行的。 威廉姆森假设交易的主体双方具备两个特性，机会主义行为倾向和行为人的有限理性。也是就说，在交易过程中，契约人在本性上具有采用损人利己的手段获取私利的机会主义行为倾向。在有限理性条件下，人们对这些行为可能发生的时间和方式做出正确的判断，并采取措施加以预防，需要支付高昂的交易成本。这就是机会主义行为倾向导致人们在交易当中可能采取欺诈，伪造合同等投机行为的发生，从而带来信用危机。而有限理性的假设使得人们在信用危机出现的时候，不得不采取各种有效手段来防治欺诈行为得发生，这就直接增加了交易的成本，甚至出现上面所说的倒退到“一手交钱，一手交货”的原始状态，市场效率大大降低。而正是这笔成本，是对社会财富（社会总利润）的一种损失和浪费。如果没有这笔损失而完成交易，无疑人类将享受自己所创造出来的全部财富。这就是西方主流经济学派的著名假设：如果交易费用为零，则社会财富将会极大化。 潮汕地区部分企业的不法行为给整个地区的信用氛围带来及其不利的影响。微观上看，各企业各单位之间的交易成本上升了，交易变得困难，交易方必然寻找更加便于交易的企业进行合作，交易量必然下降。宏观上看，由于信用危机所带来的交易风险，必然使得外来投资减少，有限理性的投资者必然选择更加安全的地区进行投资，以获得预期的回报。投资量的减少必将影响到整个地区的经济增长。 四、信用制度的建设 潮汕地区的信用危机发生以后，已经引起了当地政府的极大重视。汕头市政府立即着手进行调查，并对不法企业进行停业整顿等等。然而解决信用危机的根本在于一套完善的信用制度。根据信息经济学中的非对称信息理论，交易双方在经济活动中所处的地位不可能是完全一样的。也就是说，机会主义行为倾向的出现是必然的，个人在追求收益最大化的过程中必然会产生道德风险。由于信息非对称是客观存在的经济现象，对交易者而言，每一笔针对不同交易对象的交易，都需要搜寻交易对手的各种信息成本。这就使得，一方面，搜寻信息的交易成本上升；另一方面，不守信用者不能被其他潜在的市场参与者及时发现，他以后还能够继续与其他交易对象进行交易，这样就会让不守信用者认为没用必要讲究信用。由于自身利益的驱动，他还将继续在其他交易中骗取信用，直到所有潜在的市场参与者了解该信息为止。这时他的最优策略是不讲信用。 如果有一套健全完善的信用制度，交易者可以方便的查找对方的信用信息，降低交易成本。另外，在信用制度的条件下，不守信用者将付出丧失所有交易机会代价，因为信用信息变得更易流通，不守信用的成本大于不守信用所带来的收益，这时他的最优策略则变为诚实守信了。 目前汕头市政府已经开始着手进行信用制度的一系列建设，包括建立汕头市企业信用信息网，方便企业进行信用资料的查询；将部分不法企业进行曝光等等，并在当地进行以“依法纳税，诚信经商”为主题的大型政府宣传活动，希望能建立一种诚实守信的市场氛围。 潮汕地区的信用危机为我们的经济体制改革敲响了警钟，不单只是潮汕地区存在这样的问题，全国还有许多地方都存在信用制度缺失的现象。交易成本的上升必然降低一个企业，一个地区，甚至一个国家的竞争力。当然信用制度的建设不是短期就可以实现的，它是一个长期的过程，通过制度的约束，逐步在人们心中建立起诚信经营的良好观念，最终进入诚实守信和经济增长的良性循环。

cathy

搂主，你太可爱了：）
简直是我的救星