This book contains some theoretic introduction on transaction cost, property rights and contract theory. Market, firm and state are the main topics of the later part of the book. This book is a collection of different views of different economists and political economists. There is little about the authors' view. The analysis is not systematically presented because they have put too much different arguements together in analyzing an issue. One good thing in this book is the reading list it contains.

Written by two leading authors in the area, this major work explores at length the "new institutional economics." Research in this area has become prominent in the social sciences in the 1980s and 1990s. Addressed largely to academic economists and advanced students, the book covers transaction-cost economics, property-rights analysis, and the theory of contracts. The "new institutional" approach embraced here centers on the key concept of transaction costs. By use of this idea, an attempt is made to explain the nature and role of the organizations and institutions of economic life. The approach is much in the tradition of the work of Nobel Laureate Ronald Coase and his well-known and prolific follower Oliver Williamson.

The book is organized into ten substantial chapters. After an introduction, the work moves on to a second chapter on the pivotal concept of transaction costs. Two chapters on property rights follow, then chapters on contract theory, markets, firms, and the state. A final chapter usefully considers possible future developments of the new institutional paradigm.

The exposition is generally clear and helpful, and the volume is an excellent introduction to the literature of the new institutional economics. Each chapter ends with useful recommendations for further reading. As a comprehensive introduction to a particular type of institutional approach, the book cannot be easily faulted....

Overall, it is a pity that the volume under review did not probe more deeply into the literature on the possible weaknesses of the transaction-cost approach and thereby consider alternative explanations. Nevertheless, the achievements and positive features of the book should not be underestimated. It can be recommended as a comprehensive exploration of the transaction-cost paradigm.