Hostname: page-component-54dcc4c588-9xpg2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-07T03:01:16.742Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Toward an economic theory of customary measurement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2023

Glen Whitman
Glen Whitman*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, California State University, Northridge, California, USA
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: glen.whitman@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The article proposes an economic theory of customary measurement systems. The form of such systems is driven by two transaction-cost factors: minimising costs of implementation, and coordinating on shared standards. These factors combine to yield seven principles of customary measurement, supported with illustrative examples from the traditional Anglo-American, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Chinese, and Indian measurement systems. The theory illuminates various confounding features of such systems, including ubiquitous binary patterns, frequent appearance of duodecimal ratios, and persistence of trade-specific measures.

Keywords

binarycoordination gamesmeasurementtransaction costs

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Institutional Economics , Volume 19 , Issue 6 , December 2023 , pp. 709 - 728
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Millennium Economics Ltd.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Akerlof, G. (1970) The market for “Lemons”: quality uncertainty and the market mechanism. Quarterly Journal of Economics 84(3), 488–500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, D.W. (2000). Transaction costs. In Bouckaert, B and De Geest, G (eds.), Encyclopedia of Law and Economics, Volumes I–V. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.Google Scholar
Allen, D.W. (2012) The Institutional Revolution: Measurement and the Economic Emergence of the Modern World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Allen, D.W. and Lueck, D. (2009) Customs and incentives in contracts. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 91(4), 880–894.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arthur, B. (1989) Competing technologies, increasing returns, and lock-in by historical events. The Economic Journal 99(March), 116–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baidu (2018) What are the ancient units of length? How come? In Baidu Baike. Retrieved March 8, 2023, from https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/424960617732677652.html.Google Scholar
Baldwin, C.Y. (2007) Where do transactions come from? Modularity, transactions, and the boundaries of firms. Industrial and Corporate Change 17(1), 155–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldwin, C.Y. and Clark, K.B. (2002) Where Do Transactions Come From? A Perspective from Engineering Design. Working Paper, Harvard Business School.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barzel, Y. (1982) Measurement cost and the organization of markets. Journal of Law and & Economics 25(1), 27–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barzel, Y. (2005) Organizational forms and measurement costs. Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 161(3), 357–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopedia (2020). stone. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/stone-unit-of-weight.Google Scholar
Chuah, S.H. and Hoffmann, R. (2003) The Evolution of Measurement Standards. Working Paper, Nottingham University Business School.Google Scholar
Clark, A. and Chalmers, D. (1998) The extended mind. Analysis 58(1), 7–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coase, R.H. (1937) The nature of the firm. Economica 4(16), 386–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coase, R.H. (1960) The problem of social cost. Journal of Law and Economics 3(1): 1–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connor, R.D. (1987) The Weights and Measures of England. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
D'Adderio, L. (2011) Artifacts at the centre of routines: performing the material turn in routines theory. Journal of Institutional Economics 7(2), 197–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahl, J. “Eye of Horus bw.” (2007) Wikimedia.org. Wikimedia Commons. Web. 23 November 2021.Google Scholar
David, P.A. and Greenstein, S. (1990) The economics of compatibility standards: an introduction to recent research. Economics of Innovation and New Technology 1(1): 3–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Demsetz, H. (1967) Toward a theory of property rights. The American Economic Review 57(2), 347–359.Google Scholar
Denzau, A.T. and North, D.C. (1994) Shared mental models: ideologies and institutions. Kyklos 47(1), 3–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, N. and Levinson, S.C. (2009) The myth of language universals: language diversity and its importance for cognitive science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 32(5): 429–492.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrell, J. and Saloner, G. (1985) Standardization, compatibility, and innovation. The RAND Journal of Economics 16(1), 70–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foss, N.J. and Garzarelli, G. (2007) Institutions as knowledge capital: Ludwig M. Lachmann's interpretative institutionalism. Cambridge Journal of Economics 31(5), 789–804.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffith, R.E. (1859) A Universal Formulary: Containing the Methods of Preparing and Administering Officinal and Other Medicines. New ed., revised and expanded by Robert P. Thomas. Blanchard and Lea.Google Scholar
Gross, J. (2021) Britain Signals Intent to Revert to the Imperial System. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/world/europe/imperial-measurements-pounds-ounces-return.html.Google Scholar
Gupta, S.V. (2020) Units of Measurement: History, Fundamentals and Redefining the SI Base Units. 2nd edition. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Accessed November 23, 2021 at https://books.google.com/books?id=R_7sDwAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false.Google Scholar
Gyllenbok, J. (2018). Encyclopaedia of Historical Metrology, Weights, and Measures, Vols. 1, 2, and 3. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.Google Scholar
Hamilton, E.J. (1944) Monetary problems in Spain and Spanish America 1751–1800. The Journal of Economic History 4(1), 21–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harper, D.A. (2010) Numbers as a cognitive and social technology: on the nature of conventional number sequences used in economic systems. Journal of Institutional Economics 6(2), 167–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirsch, A.P. (2013). Ancient Egyptian Cubits – Origin and Evolution. Dissertation, Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto.Google Scholar
Jones, O.R. (1986). Cylindrical English Wine and Beer Bottles: 1735–1850. National Historic Parks and Sites Branch, Environment Canada – Parks.Google Scholar
Katz, M.L. and Shapiro, C. (1985). Network externalities, competition, and compatibility. American Economic Review 75(3), 424–440.Google Scholar
Klaes, M. (2008). Transaction costs, history of. In Durlauf, SN and Blume, LE (eds.), The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Available online at https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/publications/transaction-costs-history-ofGoogle Scholar
Kula, W. (1986). Measures and Men. R. Szreter, trans. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langlois, R.N. (2006) The secret life of mundane transaction costs. Organizational Studies 27(9), 1389–1410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeson, P.T. (2009) The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeson, P.T. (2020) Logic is a harsh mistress: welfare economics for economists. Journal of Institutional Economics 16(2), 145–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leibowitz, S.J. and Margolis, S.E. (1990) The fable of the keys. Journal of Law & Economics 33(1), 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macey, S.L. (2010) The Dynamics of Progress: Time, Method, and Measure. Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press.Google Scholar
Menger, C. (1892) On the origin of money. Economic Journal 2(6), 239–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moody, B.E. (1960) The origin of the ‘Reputed quart’ and other measures. Glass Technology 1(2), 55–68.Google Scholar
Needham, J. (1959) Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Science of the Heavens and the Earth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nelson, R.R. and Sampat, B.N. (2001) Making sense of institutions as a factor shaping economic performance. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 44(1), 31–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, R.R. and Winter, S.G. (1982) An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
North, D.C. (1981) Structure and Change in Economic History. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.Google Scholar
North, D.C. (1991) Institutions. Journal of Economic Perspectives 5(1), 97–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owen, W.J. (1966) The history of the English system of weights and measures. In Chishold, LJ (ed), Report of the 50th National Conference on Weights and Measures 1965, National Bureau of Standards Miscellaneous Publication 272, Washington, D.C.: US Government Printing Office, pp. 128–140.Google Scholar
Pieces of Eight (n.d.) Encyclopedia.com. Cengage. Accessed on November 23, 2021, at https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/united-states-and-canada/us-history/pieces-eight.Google Scholar
Reimer, D. (2014) Count Like an Egyptian: A Hands-On Introduction to Ancient Mathematics. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Rizzo, M.J. (1999) What kind of legal order? Logical coherence and praxeological coherence. Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines 9(4), 497–510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, A. (2007) The Story of Measurement. London: Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Ross, L.A. (1983) Archaeological Metrology: English, French, American and Canadian Systems of Weights and Measures for North American Historical Archaeology. Hull, Quebec: Supply and Services Canada.Google Scholar
Schelling, T. (1960) The Strategy of Conflict. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Shrivastava, S.K. (2017) Measurement units of length, mass and time in India through the ages. International Journal of Physical and Social Science 7(5), 39–48.Google Scholar
Smith, W.D. (1992) Complications of the commonplace: tea, sugar, and imperialism. Journal of Interdisciplinary History 23(2), 259–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stratton, S.W. (1904). Weights and measures. In Beach, FC (ed), Encyclopedia Americana, vol. 16, New York: The Americana Company, pp. 820–827.Google Scholar
Swann, G.M.P. (2009). The Economics of Metrology and Measurement. Report for National Measurement Office, Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills. United Kingdom.Google Scholar
Tirole, J. (1988) The Theory of Industrial Organization. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Vincent, J. (2022) Beyond Measure: The Hidden History of Measurement From Cubits to Quantum Constants. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.Google Scholar
Watson, C.M. (1915) The origin of English measures of Length. Journal of the Royal Society of Arts 64(3293), 125–131.Google Scholar
Willard, R.H. (2008) Weights and measures in Egypt. In Selin, H (ed), Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 2244–2251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, O.E. (1985) The Economic Institutions of Capitalism. New York: The Free Press (MacMillan).Google Scholar
Young, H.P. and Burke, M.A. (2001) Competition and custom in economic contracts: a case study of Illinois agriculture. American Economic Review 91(3), 559–573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zupko, R.E. (1985) A Dictionary of Weights and Measures for the British Isles: The Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century, Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.Google Scholar
Zupko, R.E. (1990) Revolution in Measurement: Western European Weights and Measures Since the Age of Science. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.Google Scholar