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Spot markets cover most transactions.
現貨市場涵蓋了大多數交易。
Once money is exchanged for goods, the deal is completed.
一旦貨幣被換成商品，交易即告完成。
The transaction is simple: one party wants, another supplies.
這種交易簡單明了：一方需要，另一方供給。
There is little scope for dispute, so a written contract can be dispensed with.
爭議的余地很小，因而，成文合約可能被省去。
If one party is unhappy, he will take his business elsewhere next time.
如果一方不滿意，他下次就會把業務帶往他處。
Spot markets are thus largely self-policing.
因而，現貨市場在很大程度上是自我管理。
They are well suited to simple, low-value transactions, such as buying a newspaper or taking a taxi.
它們非常適合買報紙和打的等簡單和低價值的交易。
Things become trickier when the parties are locked into a deal that is costly to get out of.
當參與者陷入放棄成本高昂的交易中時，事情就變得棘手了。
Take a property lease, for instance.
以房屋租賃為例。
A business that is evicted from its premises might not quickly find a building with similar features.
一家從其經營場所中被趕出來的公司不可能很快找到一處特點類似的建筑。
Equally, if a tenant suddenly quit, the landlord might not find a replacement straight away.
同樣，如果租戶突然退出，房主也不可能立即找到代替者。
Each could threaten the other in a bid for a better rent.
每一方都可能以更好的租金要挾對方。
The answer is a long-term contract that specifies the rent, the tenure and use of the property.
答案是一份標注出租金、租期和產權使用的長期合約。
Both parties benefit.
兩方雙雙獲益。
But for many business arrangements, it is difficult to set down all that is required of each party in all circumstances.
但是，對于許多商業安排而言，敲定為每一方在任何情況下所要求的一切就難了。
In such cases, formal contracts are by necessity “incomplete” and sustained largely by trust.
在這類例子中，正式合約勢必是“不完整的”，而且主要是靠信任來維持。
An employment contract is of this type.
雇傭合同即是這種類型。
It has a few formal terms: job title, work hours, initial pay and so on, but many of the most important duties and obligations are not written down.
它有很多正式條目：工作職位、工作時間、初始工資等等。但是，最重要的責任和義務大都沒有被寫入。
It is thus like a “mini-society with a vast array of norms beyond those centred on the exchange and its immediate processes”, wrote Mr Williamson.
因而，它就像一個“規范繁多的微型社會”。
Such a contract stays in force mostly because its breakdown would hurt both parties.
這類合約之所以有效，主要是因為違約會對雙方造成傷害。
And because market forces are softened in such a contract, it calls for an alternative form of governance: the firm.
而且，由于市場力量在這類合約中被軟化了，它呼喚一種替代性的管理形式：公司。
One of the first papers to elucidate these ideas was published in 1972 by Armen Alchian and Harold Demsetz.
最早闡述這些觀點的論文中的一篇是由阿門·阿爾奇安(Armen Alchian 又譯艾智仁)和哈羅德·德姆塞茨(Harold Demsetz)在1972年發表的。
They defined the firm as the central contractor in a team-production process.
他們將公司定義為團隊生產過程中的中心簽約者。
譯文來源考研英語時事閱讀
