The paper aims to show the overall coherence of the system of thought Commons employed to build his institutional economics. For that and in order not to stay enclosed within the American context Commons’ ideas have been considered to be dependent upon, we read him through the methodological...

Les institutions déterminent, structurent et stabilisent certains ordres sociaux. Pour autant, elles ne sont pas seulement contraignantes mais constituent aussi une source de possibles permettant aux individus d’agir dans leur environnement. La notion d’institution est ainsi intimement...

Are institutionalism and structuralism compatible or do they confront each other? This article suggests an answer to this question, starting from an analysis of the structuration of these two paradigmatic fields of social sciences. It observes the existence in economies of both structuralist...

It is traditionally claimed that the State has three main categories of policies to implement: allocation, distribution and stabilization policies. In the present chapter we will be concerned only with stabilization policies or, more generally, with the role public policies may have in...

We analyze the trade-off faced by authorities envisaging a one-shot structural re-form in a capitalistic industry. A structure is modeled as (1) a sharing of productive capital at some time and (2) a sharing of scarce sites or any other non-reproducible assets. These two distinct dimensions of...

Antitrust authorities have set up leniency programs for cartel members that denounce their collusive agreements. These programs help prosecute participants and can thereby deter collusion. We compare the impact of reduced fines and positive rewards and argue that rewarding individuals, including...