This wide-ranging and highly accessible introduction presents both the key theories of Original Institutional Economics and New Institutional Economics in a balanced and intuitive way, reserving technical discussions mainly for appendices....

This wide-ranging and highly accessible introduction presents both the key theories of Original Institutional Economics and New Institutional Economics in a balanced and intuitive way, reserving technical discussions mainly for appendices....

Drums and a distorted keyboard accompany the singer of the band as he recites the lyrics: \\\"It painted our youth, painted our spirit, painted our rhythm, painted our style.\\\" The audience shouts along with the rhythm. Slowly the bass player strides to the front of the stage. Then the guitar players line up beside him....

Transaction cost economics (TCE) is at the heart of the new theory of the firm. While it is an established research tradition with a well developed theoretical framework and good empirical results, critics consider TCE too limited to understand the essential characteristics of complex organizations like the firm....