► 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...

This paper proposes an analysis of the emergence and evolution of institutional frameworks. It explains the causes, process, and outcome of institutional evolution. We first describe the institutional framework as a multilevel system at the bottom of which several “local and flexible”...

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...