I would like to suggest that the transaction cost literature (associated notably with Williamson 1975; 1985) can tell us something about the role of trust in the economy. As the term 'transaction cost' suggests, this literature is concerned with the organizational implications of the costs of making a transaction. This includes not only the cost of reaching an agreement satisfactory to both sides, but also that of adapting the agreement to unanticipated contingencies and of enforcing its terms. … The relation of transaction costs to the economy parallels that of friction to a physical system: it is often ignored in formal models but is none the less of great practical significance.

XREF: Connects to the reader's likely familiarity with Williamson's work and the analogy to physical friction as an explanatory device in economic modeling.

Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking…, loc. 2516