The Institutional Revolution: A Review Essay

Richard Langlois

No 2013-11, Working papers from University of Connecticut, Department of Economics

Abstract: This review essay discusses and appraises Douglas Allen’s The Institutional Revolution (2011) as a way of reflecting on the uses of the New Institutional Economics (NIE) in economic history. It praises and defends Allen’s method of asking “what economic problem were these institutions solving?” But it insists that such comparative-institutional analysis be imbedded within a deeper account of institutional change, one driven principally by changes – often endogenous changes – in the extent of the market and in relative scarcities. The essay supports its argument with a variety of examples of the NIE applied to economic history.

Keywords: institutions; transaction costs; aristocracy; military history; factory system. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C61 D24 L25 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2013-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-hme and nep-hpe
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uct:uconnp:2013-11

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