The new institutional approach to institutions: concepts, methods, results

Abstract

New Institutional Economics has developed considerably over the last twenty years, qualifying as a «progressive research pro
gram». This program is based on a hard core of concepts that apply to well identified objectives: The alternative modes for or
ganizing transactions, the institutional environment in which they are embedded, and the interaction between these dimensions.
Transaction costs play a major role in this approach. This paper examines why it is so, it deals with several controversial issues,
and it provides examples of recent breakthroughs in economics, but also in history and in the political sciences.