► Understanding emergence and evolution is key to analyze the nature of institutions. ► Conceiving institutions as equilibria of beliefs allows exploring the role of rationality. ► Institutions might also be seen as the result of strategies by agents or coalitions. ► The dynamic of law...

This paper surveys alternative approaches to the emergence and evolution of institutions. The challenge is to develop frameworks capable of capturing both stability and change. We follow a “descaling” approach to show how founding assumptions about economics—namely, alternative assumptions...

Using a Transaction Cost Economics framework, this paper studies how supply chain governance are aligned with the type of quality enforcement mechanisms used in transactions with consumers. Specifically we compare governance of supply chains when private brand assures quality to chains where...

This article looks at the interactions between branding strategies and governance of vertical transactions. Branding strategy refers to the choice of information provided to consumers through a brand name. Governance refers to contractual agreements organizing transactions in vertical chains. We...

L'expansion des marques commerciales dans les filières agroalimentaires s'accompagne de la mise en place de nouvelles relations entre les différents stades de ces filières. Cet article propose une grille d'analyse de ces formes d'organisation basée sur le cadre de l'économie des coûts de...

Different types of markets exist throughout the world but how are they created? In this book, an interdisciplinary team of authors provide an evolutionary vision of how markets are designed and shaped. Drawing on a series of case studies, they show that markets are far from perfect and natural...

The paper proposes an analytical framework for comparing different business models for producing information goods and digital services. It is based on three dimensions that also refer to contrasted literature: the economics of matching, the economics of assembling and the economics of knowledge...