New Institutional Economics and Cliometrics

Eric C. Alston, Lee Alston and Bernardo Mueller

No 30924, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The New Institutional Economics (NIE) has its early roots in Cliometrics. Cliometrics began with a focus on using neoclassical theory to develop and test hypotheses in economic history. But empirical consideration of economic and political development within and across countries is limited, absent consideration of the institutional context. The NIE as applied in economic history first focused on the roles of transaction costs and property rights. From this micro-institutional perspective, the NIE expanded its focus to the role of institutions and norms on economic development as well as how economic forces along with political institutional variance influences outcomes both within and across countries. This involves considering both forces that impede and promote economic and political convergence across countries as well the forces that determine a transition to a new economic or political trajectory altogether. Testing for the determinants of economic and political development is plagued with omitted variables and endogeneity concerns, a constraint which has recently prompted scholars to draw on complexity theory to further supplement the NIE and Cliometrics.

JEL-codes: B52 F63 N01 P0 P50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo, nep-gro, nep-his, nep-hme, nep-hpe and nep-reg
Note: DAE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Chapter: The New Institutional Economics and Cliometrics (2024)
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