Trajectories of institutional changes, transaction costs and time
O.S. Sukharev,
д-р экон. наук, проф., ведущий научный сотрудник, Институт экономики РАН (117218, г. Москва, Нахимовский проспект, 32; e-mail: o_sukharev@list.ru)
Аннотация. В статье рассматривается проблема институционального планирования и определения траекторий институциональных изменений. Автор выделяет условия институционального развития, которые позволяют определить траекторию развития, характеризует эти условия вводимыми параметрами, оценивает конкретный характер изменения трансакционных издержек для каждого состояния и проводит анализ влияния эффектов и принципов, которые известны в новой институциональной экономике на характер институциональных изменений. Развивается идея дисфункции институтов, предложенная авторов ранее.
Abstract. The problem of institutional planning and defining trajectories of institutional developments are considered in the article. The author singles out the conditions of institutional development which can define the development trajectory, characterizes these conditions on introduced parametres, estimates the specific character of transaction costs change for each condition and analyzes the impact of effects and principles appeared in new institutional economy on institutional changes character. The idea of institutions dysfunction is developed.
Ключевые слова: институт, траектория, инститиуцональное планирование, трансакционные издержки, институциональные эффекты и принципы.
ples.
Keywords: institution, institutional planning, trajectory, transaction costs, institutional effects and princi-
JEL: B15 D02 E02 E11 P11
1. The Problem of Institutional Planning In Changing Economy
Little is done in economic science and, more specifically, in institutional theory in the area of institutions planning, controlled replacement of one institutions by the others and the choice of prevailing condition of institutional dynamics ("dependence on the past", "independence on the past" or partial dependence on the past) [3,6, 7-13]. The majority of macroeconomic models proceeds from the minimum impact of the institutions on economic dynamics and decision-making. They do not especially consider the stylistics of institutional changes, both of internal, and external nature (transplantation and institutions adoption). Agents adaptations to new rules or change of the old norms, which are updated or corrected due to this reason (in particular, the time of such adaptation defining the qualitative level of compliance or obstruction of the given norm or set of norms), are not considered, as a rule, by modern macroeconomic science. In the modern economy, at least, in the most developed countries, the frequency of institutional changes and political decisions provoking such changes considerably outstrips the possibilities of the agents to carry out action and tasks in view and to achieve some result. Therefore, introducing any institution, planning or adopting it, it is necessary to consider the reactions of agents and other institutions which are designed to cooperate with the introduced institution. The research complexity of the given process is in the fact that even at introduction of one institution, its interactions with the set of other institutions are difficult for foresee. The analysis should be of very specific character, and institution efficiency will be defined by the fact to what extend the agents will be interested to follow it, to execute this rule, what transaction and production costs will thus arise. Besides, generating additional transaction costs or economizing, the institutions [4-5, 6, 7-8] change production costs. By the way, for this reason at money supply change in the economy, inflation
changes differently as institutional structures and production in these countries differ. In this connection, unified approach to economic policy, including reaction to inflation, will hardly be possible.
New institution appearance or correction of the old one and adoption redistribute the time structures of the agents who are to force to carry out this rule. If, as a result, the time structure of such institutional changes undergoes radical change which shifts agent's motivations and shifts his preferences, the impact of such change will be defined by combined reaction of agents.
In my works I introduced some criteri1a which institutional planning should be based on1. They are: goal-setting, defining the area of efforts application, functional variety, costs of institutions and agents functioning which arise at introduction of new institutions, time of institution functioning and time before its change, replacement, abolition or correction, stability to external changes and stability to spontaneous mutations, and also monetary provision of introduced institution functioning. And the last principle is not the same as the expenses for institution functioning. It is rather expansion of monetary provision which arises or does not arise at the introduction of the institution or necessary monetary provision in unit time, needed for the most effective institution functioning and execution of the required functions by it [14-17].
But what can be considered effective functioning? Low costs of the given institution compliance? And if the costs are not high, monetary provision is sufficient, and the agents do not carry out this rule, ignore it, then, in this case the institution is as though not visible in the institutional field of economic system. Then, it is meaningless to speak
1 Under institutional planning we understand a set of actions aimed at institutions formation, their introduction in economic system, change, correction, adoption of institutions (planning the legislation change, new legal norms, organizational forms and their change). Generally, institutional designingis treated as a method of institutions creation. Frequently, these concepts practically coincide terminologically.
about its efficiency. If institution's functioning costs are not high, and the existence of this institution sharply increases agents' expenses, that causes refusal to follow this rule in a due projected variant, there is an institution dysfunction, which is the characteristic of its inefficiency. Often it is immanent inefficiency.
At the same time, it is necessary to notice, that the important moment is defining initial institutional qualities of the system, its dysfunction degree1 on basic institutions (rules), and, besides, requirement clarification on some changes and institutions, including the possibility of institutions adoption and their transference from different social and economic environment. In other words, institutional planning is the algorithm, the grounded control sequence of institutions, their introduction, creation of adaptation conditions to new rules, replacements, adoptions, and etc. It is and it should be an integral part and the core of state planning, but it can be carried out at the government level of the country, legislative bodies, at the regional power level and even at the level of a firm and a separate household which develop the rules of their functioning and daily economic decisions making. Certainly, institutional planning has specific character and significance at each level. Laws passed by the parliament have higher priority and force in comparison with the legislation in a certain region. However, according to the enforcement force or law execution, the regional legal act can have a clear advantage, that is, the federal law cannot be executed, and the regional one can. There can be other scenario, a reverse one. But summing up, it is necessary to say that institutions have different force and purpose. They regulate the same processes in economy, so that the total effect of their impact is difficult to estimate. Besides, when we speak about the different conditions of institutions development, we use the terms of dependence, independence on the past and partial association with the past. That means that new institutions show three specified conditions of association with the old institutions. Actually, it is possible to ascertain the presence of this or that condition probably only on one separately considered institution, but if we consider the interaction of all institutions with each other, and in a society there exists a single institutional area of this or that organization degree, it is improbable enough to speak about independence on the past even under conditions of revolutionary changes. And the condition of dependence on the past and partial dependence is a trivial expression of what is observed in life. The appearance of new technology and technics, on the one hand, represents a certain revolutionary change, because if the scale of such change is con-
1 The author's concept of economic system (institutes) dysfunction was suggested in 1998-1999 (the first publications) and was published in the book "The Theory of Economic Dysfunction" (2001) where the necessary description toolkit of dysfunction is introduced. Dysfunction is understood as a disorder of functions, and/or their loss. Basically, it has qualitative character, that is, incorrect execution of functions. In Russian institutional literature (see the works of V.M.Polterovich) this concept was considered from the point of view of institutes transplantation (there appears their dysfunction), these works also referring to 1998-1999. That is a radical difference between these two ideas and approaches. In the first case, it is the arising dysfunction, that is the reason of arising block effect, in the second, on the contrary, it is the block effect that as though generates dysfunction.
siderable, change of the mode of production, higher productivity and technological enhancement are observed. On the other hand, the new technics and technologies generate the new rules, actions algorithms, including those connected with the maintenan
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