Ben Bernanke Blog

There were many lessons I enjoyed learning this semester and one which I had not been aware before concerned transaction costs. Transaction costs are prevalent everywhere in society and they directly affect organizations. The biggest take away I learned from our lessons on transaction costs revolved around those that have already affected me. For example, the search and information transaction costs that affected how I chose which apartment to live in. On the other hand, the other lessons I learned about transaction costs, like contract enforcement, I am sure will serve me well in my career. I also think transaction costs are important to learn because they are mostly neglected or hidden from the obvious costs organizations deal with. However, by an organization realizing all their transaction costs they can limit them and help spur growth in their organization. Overall, I enjoyed the way the class was structured. Personally, I enjoy online classes and try to take as many as possible...

When the principle agent model involves two principals many conflicts can arise. I have never personally experienced a conflict involving two principals, however the movie avatar comes to mind when discussing the triangle arrangement. For background information, the movie avatar takes place on a different world's moon sometime in the future. There is an indigenous humanoid populous in this world, called Na'vi, who are similar to new world Native American tribes in technology and culture. Humans have come to the world to mine the moon for its natural resources. For this task, some humans are sent in as humanoids to discuss and communicate with the indigenous peoples. Here is where the triangle arrangement is most evident. In the movie, the main agent would be the main protagonists Jake and Dr. Augustine, who keep in contact with the Na'vi people early on. In this arrangement, the two principals are the indigenous people themselves and the military of the humans who want to...