Institutionalism propounds a particular set of theoretical assumptions about the role of law in economic growth. In unpacking the development of those assumptions, this Essay adopts a model of intellectual history based on the Kuhnian argument that scientific knowledge evolves through key...

1. Introduction : the lasting and increasing relevance of institutional economics -- 2. Institutional economics and conventional economic theory -- 3. Intellectual antecedents of institutional economics -- 4. The nature and meaning of institutions : towards a theory of institutional change -- 5....

1. Introduction / Ying Ma and Hans-Michael Trautwein -- 2. Physiocracy and the Chinese model / Stefan Gaarsmand Jacobsen -- 3. The reception of Adam Smith in East Asia / Qunyi Liu -- 4. Commodities, natural resources, and growth / Mauro Boianovsky -- 5. Yan Fu, individualism, and social order /...

This book is about mutual influences of thinking about economic development in China and in the West, from the 18th century until the present. Its chapters are contributed by development economists and historians of thought from China and other parts of the world. The book describes important...