Reclaiming Institutions as a Form of Capital

Paul, Bénédique (2009): Reclaiming Institutions as a Form of Capital. Published in: Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Economic Association 2009 Conference : pp. 137-148.

Abstract

Economists have recognized that “institutions matter” and the renewal of Institutional Economics has gained a large scientific authority, but institutions, as unit of analysis, stay a concept not understood on all its dimensions. Recently, the notion of “institutional capital” appeared in the literature, without neither satisfied definition nor demonstration. In this article, we adopt the “Resourced-Based View” approach to show that some kinds of institutions can theoretically be considered as form of capital, namely “institutional capital”. The main conclusions of this article are explicated in the promises of this new approach for future researches on growth theories, economic development theories, organizational theories, and overall on New Institutional Economics. We underline the importance to test the empirical strength of this economic resource. Meanwhile, economists may accept that “institutional capital matters”.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Institutions, Institutional Capital, Institutionalism
• Subjects: B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches > B52 - Institutional ; Evolutionary

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