Douglas W. Allen: The institutional revolution: measurement & the economic emergence of the modern world

摘要

In The Institutional Revolution, Douglas W. Allen makes an important contribution to our understanding of social and political institutions. In addition to the way in which he engages his fellow economists, he serves as something of an ambassador from the tribe of the Econ to our friends in history, political science, and sociology. He does what I think economists do best: he combines a few very simple insights-scarcity, choice, and transaction costs-into an explanation of a lot of historical phenomena that might, at first glance, appear impossible to understand. It's a very readable and fascinating account of a lot of social practices that can be explained as responses to transaction costs.