New Institutional Economics

Author: Yuan Qingming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-02-01
Features: New Institutional Economics explains institutions from a new perspective and examines their outcomes. The 21st century will be an era of prosperity for New Institutional Economics, as it will offer its own insights on specific institutional arrangements guiding economic affairs and provide a theoretical foundation for changing these arrangements to enhance economic efficiency. — Joseph Stiglitz (2001 Nobel Prize in Economics laureate) Since the 1960s, one of the most notable developments in economics has been the emergence and growth of New Institutional Economics. With Coase's "discovery" of transaction costs in 1937 and his proposal of the Coase Theorem in 1960, Coase and his successors have conducted in-depth and systematic research on fundamental issues of property rights, corporate ownership structures, the nature of the firm, human capital property rights, and other specific institutional issues, as well as general issues of institutions and institutional change, including the drivers, processes, methods, and impacts of institutional change. This has led to the formation of a relatively complete theoretical system. Together with traditional microeconomics and macroeconomics, New Institutional Economics forms the complete framework of contemporary economics. This book divides New Institutional Economics into three parts: Theoretical Foundations, Specific Institutional Theories, and General Institutional Theories. This framework is built upon a thorough review of the existing literature on New Institutional Economics, with its greatest feature being the ability to provide a more comprehensive and systematic introduction to New Institutional Economics theory compared to existing textbooks on the subject both domestically and internationally. In addition to serving as a teaching text for undergraduate and graduate students in economics and management at universities, this book also holds reference value for other readers and theoretical researchers interested in New Institutional Economics.