A Course of Study in Institutional Analysis and Development

Abstract

"This seminar is an effort to build a multidisciplinary approach to institutional analysis an development that draws heavily upon work in anthropology, economics, law, political science, public administration, and sociology. The effort is to developa coherent theoretical approach that is consistent with work in public choice theory and the new institutional economics but focusing upon institutional analysis more generally. We proceed upon a presupposition that alternative institutional arrangements are available for those types of problems that are common to all human societies. Choice is possible; and choice of institutional arrangements is grounded in informed calculations that take account of both positive and normative considerations. The focus in institutional analysis is upon rule-ordered relationships and the way that these affect structures of incentives that facilitate or impede developmental opportunities. This seminar constitutes the theoretical core for the more general intellectual excange amoung scholars participating in the Workshop's program for advanced study in comparrative institutional analysis and development. The approach is intended to offer a mode of inquiry concerned with the nature and constitution of order in human societies."