Markets, the Social Contract, and the ‘Smithian Result’

Matthijs Krul
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Matthijs Krul: Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology

Chapter 3 in The New Institutionalist Economic History of Douglass C. North, 2018, pp 69-99 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract The purpose of this chapter is to explain the role of the market in Douglass North’s thought. As Krul shows, while North was not a straightforward free market theorist, he nonetheless idealized a certain view of the market and used it as a benchmark for analyzing all historical societies. While also discussing earlier criticisms of North’s approach, Krul points to the importance of social contract theory and a pessimistic outlook on social cooperation as sources for North’s idealization of markets. An important part of the discussion is the role of Adam Smith, who functions for North as proof of both the virtues of well-ordered markets and of the difficulties of achieving them.

Keywords: Ankarloo; Open Access Societies; Game Theory Players; Make Market Prices; Milonakis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:pshchp:978-3-319-94084-7_3

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-94084-7_3

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