The Methodological Basis of Institutional Economics: Comment

This article highlights Simon Patten's contributions to the institutionalist method and view of abundance. It illustrates Patten's role in the cross-fertilization between early institutionalists and the German Historicists. Patten's views on the societal transition to abundance, the method of social inquiry, and the role of social scientists are re-examined in light of the current exigencies of a climate-constrained, post-industrial economy. The policy implications that emerge from Patten's rejection of the presumption of scarcity are examined in a contemporary context. The article suggests that the historical and evolutionary approach that Patten fostered among institutionalists is essential to the identification and implementation of the socio-economic reform requisite of an age of abundance.     

The Institutional Economics of Karl Polanyi

Economists tend to see the market as a default option for social order and a role for government only when markets fail. Developing a convincing analysis of the role of government in economic processes, however, needs to start by considering government failure in its own terms. Drawing on insights from institutional economics, law and economics and the philosophy of law, emphasizing the necessity of rules for the economy, this paper develops the concept of government failure. The paper identifies and develops four different types of government failure. Government can set rules for economic processes and actors that are (1) too specific, (2) too broad, (3) that are arbitrary, or (4) that conflict with other rules it has set out to address other, related issues (possibly primarily non-economic). Government failure is illustrated in the context of Intellectual Property Right (IPR) law as it relates to Anti-Trust law.     

Creationism versus Evolutionism in Economics: Societal Consequences of Economic Doctrine

In the 1940s and 1950s, institutionalist economists rapidly lost their influence over American economics. In parallel, a new mainstream emerged, and the institutionalists were extremely dissatisfied with the path taken by the economic science. We analyze the opinions and feelings about this context to shed light on the institutionalists’ understanding of the new mainstream economics. We construct a historical account of the institutionalists’ dissatisfaction with post-war economics based on archival material from the personal papers of Allan Gruchy, John Gambs, John Blair, and Clarence Ayres. In the period analyzed, the economists, who would later found the Association for Evolutionary Economics, acted as dissenters rather than institutionalists. In part, this explains the pluralistic path that the association has followed ever since its foundation.     

Economic Theory as a Guideline for Government Intervention and Control: Comment

This paper provides an institutionalist analysis of the impasse over labor issues that has stalled much needed reform of U.S. immigration policy. While it is unlikely that institutional economics can dislodge a century of conventional wisdom regarding the impact of immigrants on the labor market, a more modest goal is to refute the mainstream economic assertion that what the United States needs to do is to reduce the supply of immigrants, a conclusion that fuels the disgraceful "war on immigrants" that has long plagued reasonable debate over immigration policy.     

经济发展的新制度经济学:一个根本性的批判

本文将对关于制度与经济发展的新制度经济学文献提供一个根本性的批判.作者认为,既有的文献有四宗罪(四大缺陷),而其中每个缺陷都包含更具体的不足.这四大缺陷是:概念化和度量问题、理论严谨性不足、现代辉格式神话,以及对制度变迁与发展的非进化的理解.正是这四宗罪使得新制度经济学无法给出一个关于经济发展的制度基础的系统性阐述.这一根本性批评将为作者在别的地方系统性地阐述经济发展的制度基础奠定部分基础.     

The Place of Biotechnology in Modern Civilization: A Veblenian Analysis of Public Misgiving Toward Embryology in the United States

Embryonic stem cell research and cloning are among the most controversial and ethically-loaded scientific advances of the past few decades. This paper argues that, in the context of recent theoretical developments in anthropology and cognitive psychology, Thorstein Veblen's work on the place of science in modern societies can provide a theoretical framework to study public misgiving toward embryology in the United States. It is argued that combining insights regarding human cognitive predisposition toward ritualization offered by Veblen with evolutionary theory on hazard-precaution systems and religious cognition may shed some light on the "peculiarity" of the initial public responses to embryology. Ultimately, this paper contends that understanding that initial reactions to embryology may follow a cognitive path of least resistance signifies that assessing the legitimacy of embryology will necessitate a deliberate effort toward instrumental thinking that may go against human cognitive predispositions.     

Institutional Economics as Theory of Policy Change: Impact of Past Policy Failures on Present Policy

Social scientists have developed several theories for understanding or evaluating policy change over time. Since all costs or benefits are not internalized owing to positive transaction costs, policymaking is always implemented under cost underestimation conditions and, therefore, is imperfect. I call this trait policy failure in this article. Furthermore, I show that a new framework combining the social costs approach and the legal/economic approach in institutional economics is suitable and can be applied to evaluating how past policy failures affect present policy, providing as an example the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.     

正确认识现代西方经济学

钱颖一（1981年毕业于清华大学数学专业。1982年获得美国哥伦比亚大学统计学硕士。1984年获得耶鲁大学运筹学／管理科学硕士。1990年获哈佛大学经济学博士学位。1990年至1999年任斯坦福大学经济系助理教授。他的主要研究领域包括组织和制度经济学、转轨经济学以及中国的经济改革和发展。1999年至2001年任马里兰大学经济系教授。2001年至今任伯克利加州大学经济系教授。同时任清华大学经济管理学院特聘教授和清华大学中国与世界经济研究中心教授、研究员。——编者注)认为，现代西方经济学代表了一种研究经济行为和现象的分析方法或框架，并认为它由三个主要部分组成：视角、参照系或基准点和分析工具。笔者针对现代西方经济学这三个部分进行了深入的分析，认为现代西方经济学的理论分析框架，从视角、参照系到分析工具处处体现出了强烈的非科学甚至反科学的倾向，其理论除了为资本主义制度辩护和让发展中国家屈从于国际垄断资本外，别无价值。     

制度变迁理论的比较与综合--新制度经济学与马克思主义经济学的视角

从经济人和社会人的基本假设、方法论和制度变迁动力与方式异同的角度,对新制度经济学和马克思主义经济学的制度变迁理论进行比较分析和综合,得出以下结论:可以坚持经济人基本假设,将经济理性看作是个人学习与外部环境的互动来考察,将文化、伦理、社会性等作为结构和环境等制约因素,引入到对经济人的分析中;诺斯和马克思理论中的制度变迁动力说,都表达了对学习和知识存量的重视;两种制度变迁动力说,各有其适应的层次和范围;自然禀赋等非制度因素对制度变迁的影响不可忽视。     

西方新制度经济学企业理论的演进及其存在的缺陷

针对新古典经济学中的企业假设,科斯运用交易费用的分析方法对企业的性质作了开创性的分析,界定了企业和市场的关系,这标志着现代企业理论的产生。循着科斯的分析思路,现代企业理论沿着企业和市场的关系、纵向一体化、不完全契约与团队理论、代理理论、治理理论两个理论分支不断发展和深化。现代企业的产生及演进虽丰富了微观经济学的内容,但该理论在分析方法、分析内容等方面仍存在有某些缺陷。     

城市黑车治理的制度经济学分析

以制度经济学的方法,对城市黑车现象中折射出的问题进行分析与探讨,从市场基础出发,通过简单博弈模型的构建分析黑车经营与管理背后的利益角逐,指出该领域内存在的政府规制俘虏,并针对政府规制的局限,提出从制度构建角度出发,更多运用公共选择的方式,赋予利益表达以制度化的渠道以达成对城市综合性问题的有效治理。     

基于新制度经济学视角的财政支农效率分析

改革开放以来,我国各级财政逐年加大对农业的投入,但是财政支农效率不高却是不争的事实,如何提高财政支农效率一直是学术界及各级政府开展研究的热点问题,这些研究更多的是从实证方面分析财政支农的效率.本文试图从新制度经济学的视角分析制约财政支农效率提高的各种因素,并提出解决的对策和建议.     

The End of Transition: An Institutional Interpretation of Energy Sector Reform in Eastern Europe and the CIS

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the growing institutional divergence of systemic transformation in the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Based upon the institutional theory of economic and legal systemic change, we empirically analyse reforms in a sector where the transformation process proved to be particularly tough: the energy sector. We test to what extent reforms reflect the ideal types seen in Western contexts (e.g. Anglo-Saxon and French), and to what extent new models have emerged. By generalising the results from the energy sector, one key finding emerges: starting from similar reform projects, transition in Eastern Europe has led to fundamentally different outcomes, of which we identify three ideal types: i) the reforming Central/Eastern European market economy; ii) the post-Soviet mixed economy; and iii) the Caspian state economy.     

The 2016 Veblen-Commons Award Recipient: Daniel W. Bromley: Institutional Economics

Institutional economics remains impaired by a lack of agreement as to the meaning of the concept “institution.” At the practical level, this conceptual muddle prevents progress in the crucial task of helping problematic states in Africa, parts of South Asia, and the Middle East. Thousands of refugees seeking to enter Europe are a reminder of the tragic consequences of dysfunctional states. Standard international development programs — emphasizing economic growth and fighting poverty — are counter-productive because they fail to address the underlying institutional incoherence in fragile states. They are flawed because they focus on symptoms rather than reasons. A focus on the reasons for current dysfunctional states would bring attention to the defective institutional architecture — legal relations — that prevents the emergence of economic coherence where dysfunction now reigns. We must help countries craft economic institutions that will improve livelihoods. But conceptual coherence about institutions must first emerge from the academy.     

The State,Public Policy and Heterodox Economics: An Introduction

While most heterodox economists endorse some amount of policy activism, there is no unified conception of the state and public policy in heterodox economics. To help clarify the similarities and differences within heterodoxy – and between heterodox and mainstream economics – a panel addressing this subject was convened in 2007 at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Institutional Thought. This article introduces the essays prepared for that symposium. They include an examination of the position of Marx and Engels, a clarification of the institutionalist views of Veblen and Commons, an outline of the perspective of Post Keynesian Institutionalism, and an account of some essential contributions of Classical Pragmatism (a major school of thought within the philosophy of science). The collection advances what Robert Heilbroner called “the worldly philosophy” by seeking to understand the role of the state in a world where institutions, defined broadly as social habits, adjust to other institutions.

民营企业软环境供给创新的新制度经济学诠释

这里从新制度经济学制度变迁理论的角度来诠释我国民营企业软环境供给创新。通过对我国民营企业软环境供给创新过程的分析,认为我国民营企业软环境供给创新作为一种重要的内生性资源,经过改革开放20多年来的几次变迁,已经成为促进民营企业健康发展的重要因素。     

公司治理制度的失衡与失效及其改革新方向:新制度经济学视角考察

新制度经济学把制度分解为正式制度和非正式制度两大类,认为两类制度各具特色、相互依存、相互补充,构成了制度的整体实施框架。公司治理属于制度的范畴,其中的正式制度和非正式制度必须兼容互补方能发挥治理作用,然而公司治理中伦理机制的缺失几乎是全球性的普遍问题,造成公司治理制度的失衡与失效,进行企业伦理与公司治理制度的整合是当前形势下公司治理改革的方向。     

企业人力资源管理分析——基于新制度经济学视角

学术界对人力资本和人力资源问题一直十分重视和关注.从制度经济学的视角探讨了人力资源管理和新制度经济学及其相关的理论研究之间的联系,为我们从制度与机制设计的角度认识人力资源管理系统的性质提供了新的思路.