“Information costs are reduced by the existence of large numbers of buyers and sellers. Under these conditions, prices embody the same information that would require large search costs by individual buyers and sellers in the absence of an organized market. (footnote 4: The original contributions were those of Hayek”

1937 and 1945)
Douglass North, in "Structure and Change in Economic History" (1981), p. 36

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 2, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Information costs are reduced by the existence of large numbers of buyers and sellers. Under these conditions, prices e…" by Douglass C. North?
Douglass C. North photo
Douglass C. North 18
American Economist 1920–2015

Related quotes

N. Gregory Mankiw photo
Thomas Hobbes photo

“And as in other things, so in men, not the seller, but the buyer determines the Price.”

The First Part, Chapter 10, p. 42
Leviathan (1651)

Geoffrey Hodgson photo
George Herbert photo

“386. The buyer needes a hundred eyes, the seller not one.”

George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest

Jacula Prudentum (1651)

Geoffrey Hodgson photo

“The point is that whatever price a transaction is transacted at represents a meeting of the mind of both buyer and seller. Both viewed themselves as being better off than the next alternative -- not making the transaction.”

Walter E. Williams (1936) American economist, commentator, and academic

1970s, Economics for the Citizen (1978)
Context: there's the claim that this or that price is unreasonable. I used to have conversations about this claim with Mrs. Williams early on in our 44-year marriage. She'd return from shopping complaining that stores were charging unreasonable prices. Having aired her complaints, she'd ask me to go out and unload a car trunk loaded with groceries and other items. Having completed the chore, I'd resume our conversation, saying, "Honey, I thought you said the prices were unreasonable. Are you an unreasonable person? Only an unreasonable person would pay unreasonable prices." The long and short of it is that the conversation never went over well, and we both ceased discussions of reasonable or unreasonable prices. The point is that whatever price a transaction is transacted at represents a meeting of the mind of both buyer and seller. Both viewed themselves as being better off than the next alternative -- not making the transaction. That's not to say that the seller wouldn't have found a higher price more pleasing or the buyer wouldn't have been pleased with a lower price.

Related topics