Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- List of figures
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- A Road Map for the Guidebook
- Introduction to New Institutional Economics: A Report Card
- Part I Foundations
- Part II Methodology
- 5 The “Case” for Case Studies in New Institutional Economics
- 6 New Institutional Econometrics: The Case of Research on Contracting and Organization
- 7 Experimental Methodology to Inform New Institutional Economics Issues
- 8 Game Theory and Institutions
- Part III Strategy and Management
- Part IV Industrial Organization
- Part V Institutional Design
- Part VI Challenges to Institutional Analysis
- Notes
- References
- Index
6 - New Institutional Econometrics: The Case of Research on Contracting and Organization
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- List of figures
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- A Road Map for the Guidebook
- Introduction to New Institutional Economics: A Report Card
- Part I Foundations
- Part II Methodology
- 5 The “Case” for Case Studies in New Institutional Economics
- 6 New Institutional Econometrics: The Case of Research on Contracting and Organization
- 7 Experimental Methodology to Inform New Institutional Economics Issues
- 8 Game Theory and Institutions
- Part III Strategy and Management
- Part IV Industrial Organization
- Part V Institutional Design
- Part VI Challenges to Institutional Analysis
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
Introduction
From its inception, new institutional economics (NIE) has been characterized by its emphasis on empirical research. This is not to say that NIE is hostile or even ambivalent toward formal theory; quite the contrary. Rather, it is to say that NIE places a premium on realism that is absent in much of traditional neoclassical economic theory. Indeed, NIE is frequently defined in terms of its relaxation of certain restrictive assumptions in neoclassical theory, most notably the existence of positive transaction costs, the role and influence of the institutional environment, and the limited rational abilities of economic actors. Consequently, empirical observation and analysis play a central role in the development of NIE.
The real-world orientation and focus of NIE on empirical research have expanded the scope of economics research by broadening the focus from price and quantity analysis to the existence and structure of economic systems. Nowhere is this broader scope more evident than in micro-economic theories of firms and markets. NIE has led researchers not only to crack open the black box of production known as the firm, but also the market itself, examining the structures of individual transactions and their implications for firm and market performance. The result is a burgeoning field of research on the causes and consequences of different modes for governing the allocation and coordination of resources in an economy. Oliver Williamson (2000, p. 610) characterizes new institutional economics as “a boiling cauldron of ideas.
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- New Institutional EconomicsA Guidebook, pp. 122 - 141Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008
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