Birner, R.R.BirnerWittmer, H.H.Wittmer2018-11-072018-11-072004https://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gro-2/47426Decentralization and devolution-also referred to as 'rolling back the boundaries of the state'-are important policy trends in natural resource management. Drawing a parallel with the efficient-boundary problem in industrial organization, the authors show how transaction-costs economics can be applied to identify the efficient boundaries of the state in natural resource management. The following extensions of the transaction-cost framework are proposed: (1) introduction of care intensity and contest intensity as additional key attributes of transactions; (2) introduction of cooperative types of organization as a third governance structure besides market and hierarchies; and (3) introduction of natural resource characteristics, social capital, and state capability as contextual variables. The authors also discuss the possibilities for empirical application.conference_paper10.1068/c03101s000224919300003