"The role of the evolutionary process and the role of institutions in shaping economic behavior."
This topic covers the works of institutional economists such as Thorstein Veblen and John R. Commons. It discusses their contributions to economic thought and their ideas about institutions, incentives, and social norms.
Institutions: This topic broadly covers the different types of institutions that play a vital role in the political economy, such as government agencies, regulatory bodies, trade unions, and international organizations.
Governance: The study of governance analyzes the ways in which institutions and societies manage public affairs, including the structures and processes involved in decision-making, implementation, and enforcement.
Power: Power is a fundamental concept in political economy, as institutions and individuals strive to obtain and wield it in diverse ways that can impact society's economic and political systems. This topic examines the different forms and means of power and how they are distributed.
Property Rights: This topic covers the legal and social constructs that dictate access to and control over assets and resources, which are significant for understanding inequality, economic growth, and governance.
Public Choice Theory: Public choice theory examines how individuals and organizations make decisions regarding public goods and services, including the role of self-interest, incentives, and market mechanisms in shaping decision-making.
Transaction Costs: This topic analyzes the costs associated with economic transactions and exchanges, including the role of institutions in reducing or increasing these costs.
Principal-Agent Theory: Principal-agent theory examines the relationships between individuals and organizations that delegate decision-making authority and the incentives and mechanisms that ensure that those decisions align with the interests of the constituents they represent.
Market Failures: Market failures explore the inefficiencies that arise in markets when they fail to produce optimal outcomes, including externalities, monopolies, incomplete information, and public goods.
State-Society Relations: This topic examines the ways in which the state interacts with society to achieve political and economic goals, including the role of civil society, interest groups, and political parties in shaping public policy.
Comparative Political Economy: Comparative political economy examines the similarities and differences between economic systems and their institutional frameworks across different societies and countries, helping to identify patterns and factors that influence economic performance and development.
Historical Institutionalism: This approach studies how institutions change over time and how they shape the behavior of individuals and organizations. Historical Institutionalism focuses on the evolution of institutions and their impact on society.
Sociological Institutionalism: This theory emphasizes the social and cultural elements of institutions, exploring how social norms and conventions shape the behavior of actors in the economy. Sociological Institutionalism pays attention to symbolic meanings and shared understandings that underpin economic practices.
Legal Institutionalism: This approach analyzes the role of law and legal institutions in shaping economic and political outcomes. Legal Institutionalism examines how laws and regulations impact economic actors and how legal institutions function in different societies.
Rational Choice Institutionalism: This theory explores how individual actors within institutions make decisions based on rational and self-interest considerations. Rational Choice Institutionalism argues that institutions evolve to support the self-interest of individuals.
New Institutional Economics: This theory applies economic concepts to non-economic social phenomena such as politics and law. New Institutional Economics explores the role of institutions in achieving economic efficiency and reducing transaction costs.
Neo-Institutionalism: This approach incorporates insights from various Institutionalism theories and applies them to the study of a specific area, such as corporate governance, international relations, or public administration.
"Thorstein Veblen."
"Institutional economics emphasizes a broader study of institutions and views markets as a result of the complex interaction of these various institutions."
"Traditional institutionalism rejects the reduction of institutions to simply tastes, technology, and nature."
"If people live and work in institutions on a regular basis, it shapes their world views."
"The legal foundations of an economy and the evolutionary, habituated, and volitional processes by which institutions are erected and then changed."
"Learning, bounded rationality, and evolution."
"Thorstein Veblen, Wesley Mitchell, and John R. Commons."
"Some institutionalists see Karl Marx as belonging to the institutionalist tradition because he described capitalism as a historically bounded social system."
"A significant variant that integrates later developments of neoclassical economics into the analysis."
"The role of law (a formal institution) on economic growth."
"Based on what is known about psychology and cognitive science, rather than simple assumptions of economic behavior."
"Robert H. Frank, Warren Samuels, Marc Tool, Geoffrey Hodgson, Daniel Bromley, Jonathan Nitzan, Shimshon Bichler, Elinor Ostrom, Anne Mayhew, John Kenneth Galbraith, and Gunnar Myrdal."
"He was highly influenced by the institutionalist approach in his major studies."
"The evolutionary process and institutions."
"The legal foundations of an economy and the evolutionary, habituated, and volitional processes by which institutions are erected and then changed."
"They reject the reduction of institutions to simply tastes, technology, and nature."
"Learning, bounded rationality, and evolution."
"Thorstein Veblen, Wesley Mitchell, and John R. Commons."
"They see defining features such as markets, money, and the private ownership of production evolving over time as a result of the purposive actions of individuals."