Manfred E. Streit

Uwe Mummert

Daniel Kiwit

Institutions are rules that are supported by various enforcement mechanisms. Cognition refers to the process of how men perceive and process information, whereas rationality refers to how these processes are modelled. Within institutional economics there is a growing scepticism towards extending the conventional economic frame of analysis to institutions. In particular, the notion of perfect rationality is increasingly questioned. At the same time human cognition has become a major field of research in psychology. This book explores what institutional economics can learn from cognitive psychology regarding the proper modelling of rationality in order to explain institutional change.

Cognition, Rationality, and Institutions

Wolfgang Kasper

Peter J. Boettke

This thoroughly revised, extended and updated edition of a critically acclaimed textbook provides an accessible and cohesive introduction to the burgeoning discipline of institutional economics. Requiring only a basic understanding of economics, this lucid and well-written text will be essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students wanting to understand the problems of the real world Ð such as entrepreneurship, innovation, the cost of the welfare state, international financial crises, and economic development. As institutional economics is now revolutionising policy making, the book can also serve as a guide to the pressing problems facing policy makers in mature and emergent countries alike. Key features include: ¥ A short ÔPrimerÕ at the beginning of each chapter to highlight the main issues and their relevance. ¥ Key Concepts such as ÔinstitutionsÕ, Ôeconomic orderÕ, Ôcoordination costsÕ, ÔcompetitionÕ and Ôpublic policyÕ are highlighted and clearly defined. ¥ International coverage is ensured as the three authors, experienced academic teachers, work in the US, Europe and the Asia Pacific.

Property, Competition, Policies

Institutional Economics

Peter Bernholz

Roland Vaubel

This volume confronts an important historical hypothesis with empirical evidence from selected periods of history. The hypothesis in question states that competition among political and legal organisations in developing rules has been a crucial condition for liberty, innovation and growth in the history of mankind. It is due to Immanuel Kant, Edward Gibbon and Max Weber and has been revived and further developed by Nobel-Laureate Douglass C. North who contributes the first chapter. The volume brings together political economists, historians and legal scholars to discuss the role of political competition in the rise and decline of nations - both in theory and in a large number of case studies.

A Historical Analysis

Political Competition, Innovation and Growth

Viktor J. Vanberg

Karl-Ernst Schenk

Dieter Schmidtchen

Globalisierung, Systemwettbewerb und nationalstaatliche Politik

This book provides an accessible introduction to the burgeoning discipline of institutional economics, and to the central issues of private property rights and their competitive use. The book develops the issues from fundamental premises about human cognition and motivation. This text breaks new ground in that it summarises the contemporary institutional literature in a cohesive manner. The book will not only be welcomed by the student of economics but will also be essential to jurists, business managers, anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, social historians and moral philosophers.

Social Order and Public Policy

Manfred E. Streit

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