The purpose of this article is to appraise the analytical usefulness of the new institutionalist approach by investigating the explanatory capacity of the transaction cost concept. After a discussion of the problems of defining the concept of transaction costs through the identification of three...

This article aims to begin to fill a gap in the literature by offering a comprehensive critique of Douglass North’s work with emphasis on his historical studies. After a brief overview of his theoretical contributions, a closer scrutiny of his theory in its application to history is...