本研究旨在探討，新制度經濟史的研究方法如何運用在傳播研究上。以傳播科技的進展作為傳播史的斷代基礎，使得傳播史的研究經常帶有「科技決定論」的色彩，以社會文化等因素解釋傳播史的進展，卻又經常缺少一致而系統性的理論基礎。
新制度經濟史理論主張，制度變革所導致的交易成本下降，經常是一項社會體制的生產力得以提升、制度在競爭與演化中得以存活下來的關鍵。本研究指出，在解釋傳播體制的變遷上，新制度經濟學的方法能夠做出卓越的貢獻。

This research focuses on how the methodology of the new institutional economics could be applied to the historical studies of communications. In the past, the theories of communication history mainly treated technology as the driving force of historical changes. There were cultural explanations of communication histories, but such explanations fell short of systematic and consistent theoretical foundation.
The new institutional economics history of communications illuminates the fact that the changes of institutional (transactional) costs could be the primary cause of historical changes of communication system. The studies of communication history can benefit a lot from the new institutional economics history.