「释义」

交易成本是指达成一笔交易所要花费的交易对象成本之外的成本，也指买卖过程中所花费的全部时间和货币成本。

交易成本理论是由诺贝尔经济学奖得主科斯(Coase, R.H., 1937)所提出，交易成本理论的根本论点在于对企业的本质加以解释。

由于交易成本泛指所有为促成交易发生而形成的成本，因此很难进行明确的界定与列举，不同的交易往往就涉及不同种类的交易成本。

「应用场景」

改善融资、签约和国际交易。

Improving financing, contracting, and international transactions.

如果通过区块链在公司之间共享库存、资讯和财务流，参与方将有可能在供应链融资、签约和开展国际业务方面获得重大收益。

When inventory, information, and financial flows are shared among firms through a blockchain, significant gains in supply chain financing, contracting, and doing business internationally are possible.

考虑一下融资问题。向企业提供营运资金和贸易信贷的银行面临着一个众所周知的问题，即关于借款公司的业务、资产质量和负债的信息不对称问题。例如，一家公司可能以同一项资产为抵押向几家银行借钱，或为某一目的申请贷款，然后将其用于另一目的。银行设计其流程来控制此类风险，而这增加了交易成本，放慢了资本的使用，并减少了小公司可获得的资本。这种阻碍因素不仅不利于银行，也不利于需要廉价营运资金的公司。

Consider the matter of financing. Banks that provide working capital and trade credit to firms face a well-known problem of information asymmetry regarding a borrower firm’s business, the quality of its assets, and its liabilities. For example, a company might borrow money from several banks against the same asset, or request a loan for one purpose and then use it for another. Banks design their processes to control such risks, which increases transaction costs, slows down access to capital, and reduces the capital available to small firms. Such frictions are detrimental not only to banks but also to firms that need cheap working capital.

以上文字选自《哈佛商业评论》中文版2020年5月刊《用区块链打造透明供应链》

艾米·米克（Amy Meeker）丨文

马冰仑 丨编辑