Since market economies are the dominant form of regulating economic action all over the world, the question arises how markets are conceived theoretically. Answering this is relevant because we need to know how existing and hypothetical markets work in general, what they “can do”, and how...

This paper intends to make a reflection and analysis of the impact of theoretical and methodological frameworks of reference on different neo-institutional approaches in social policy. The paper questions the functionality and continuity of the institutions that are responsible for the functions...

This paper discusses a framework for analyzing robust institutions for water markets drawn on the new institutional economics school of thoughts which is based on Williamson, North, Coase and Ostrom theories on transaction cost economics, property rights and collective actions. Based on these...

We explore the exercise of power in perpetuating status quo institutions. We give empirical examples of the economic importance of power and offer a definition of this elusive term. We then investigate the role of power in a modern capitalist economy, borrowing ideas from the classical...

The aim of this arti cle is to show that the New Insti tuti onal Economics is an interdisciplinary stream combining economics, law, organizati on theory, politi cal sciences, sociology, and anthropology. The main theories which are part of the New Insti tuti onal Economics are: Agency Theory,...

This paper intends to make a reflection and analysis of the impact of theoretical and methodological frameworks of reference on different neo-institutional approaches in social policy. The paper questions the functionality and continuity of the institutions that are responsible for the functions...

How do ideas evolve? Can one speak of scientific progress when there is more than one pathway of intellectual evolution in which different ideas emerge and flow in different directions? Is the history of economic analysis a compilation of a number of intellectual pathways? This essay argues that...

The efficiency of institutions, understood in the sense of constraint optimization, does not make much sense when discussing the New Institutional Economics (NIE), i. e., under conditions in which institutions matter. For such a world one has to use non-optimizing methods to assess the economic...

This paper explores the problem of credible commitment that public officials face with regard to institutional reform. Doug North points out that while economies grow as a result of the provision of governance, I argue that creating an entity with a geographic monopoly simultaneously limits the...