IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/copoec/v4y1993i1p97-125.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Institutional evolution in the Icelandic Commonwealth

Author

Listed:
  • Birgir Solvason

Abstract

The conventional explanation of the rise of social order in medieval Iceland, the so-called Commonwealth period, is constructivist in nature. In light of medieval legal thought, the explanation is unconvincing. The story of the decline of that social order is also problematic, in that no integrated theory seems to lie behind the explanation. By applying cooperation and rent-seeking theories to the historical record an attempt is made to provide an explanation that is more convincing, integrated and spontaneous in nature. Two main questions are posed; first, how did the Commonwealth emerge, and, second, why did it break down. Copyright George Mason University 1993

Suggested Citation

  • Birgir Solvason, 1993. "Institutional evolution in the Icelandic Commonwealth," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 97-125, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:copoec:v:4:y:1993:i:1:p:97-125
    DOI: 10.1007/BF02393284
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/BF02393284
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/BF02393284?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eggertsson,Thrainn, 1990. "Economic Behavior and Institutions," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521348911, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. JEAN-MICHEL Josselin & ALAIN Marciano, 1997. "The Paradox of Leviathan: How to Develop and Contain the Future European State?," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 5-22, January.
    2. Vincent Geloso & Peter T. Leeson, 2020. "Are Anarcho-Capitalists Insane? Medieval Icelandic Conflict Institutions in Comparative Perspective," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 130(6), pages 957-974.
    3. Rosolino A. Candela & Vincent J. Geloso, 2021. "Trade or raid: Acadian settlers and native Americans before 1755," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 188(3), pages 549-575, September.
    4. Nicholas A. Curott & Edward P. Stringham, 2010. "The Rise of Government Law Enforcement in England," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Edward J. López (ed.), The Pursuit of Justice, chapter 0, pages 19-36, Palgrave Macmillan.
    5. ., 2019. "Economic theory of non-territorial unbundling," Chapters, in: The Political Economy of Non-Territorial Exit, chapter 1, pages 14-38, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Vincent Geloso & Louis Rouanet, 2023. "Ethnogenesis and statelessness," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 377-407, June.
    7. Benson, Bruce L. & Siddiqui, Zafar R., 2014. "Pashtunwali—Law for the lawless, defense for the stateless," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 108-120.
    8. Trent J. MacDonald, 2019. "The Political Economy of Non-Territorial Exit," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 18871.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Hui & Riedinger, Jeffrey & Jin, Songqing, 2015. "Land documents, tenure security and land rental development: Panel evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 220-235.
    2. Deslatte, Aaron & Szmigiel-Rawska, Katarzyna & Tavares, António F. & Ślawska, Justyna & Karsznia, Izabela & Łukomska, Julita, 2022. "Land use institutions and social-ecological systems: A spatial analysis of local landscape changes in Poland," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    3. Kim, Jongwook & Mahoney, Joseph T., 2008. "A Strategic Theory of the Firm as a Nexus of Incomplete Contracts: A Property Rights Approach," Working Papers 08-0108, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    4. Caballero-Miguez, Gonzalo & Fernández-González, Raquel, 2015. "Institutional analysis, allocation of liabilities and third-party enforcement via courts: The case of the Prestige oil spill," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 90-101.
    5. Seth W. Norton, 2003. "Economic Institutions and Human Well-Being: A Cross-National Analysis," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 29(1), pages 23-40, Winter.
    6. Michaela Haase, 2015. "The cooperation of marketing theory and the ethic of responsibility: an analysis with focus on two views on value creation," Chapters, in: Handbook on Ethics and Marketing, chapter 7, pages 125-149, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Klaus Mittenzwei & David S. Bullock & Klaus Salhofer, 2012. "Towards a theory of policy timing," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 56(4), pages 583-596, October.
    8. Samuel Garrido, 2010. "Mejorar y quedarse. La cesión de tierra a rentas por debajo del equilibrio en la Valencia del siglo XIX," Documentos de Trabajo de la Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria 1009, Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria.
    9. Полтерович В.М., 1999. "Институциональные Ловушки И Экономические Реформы," Журнал Экономика и математические методы (ЭММ), Центральный Экономико-Математический Институт (ЦЭМИ), vol. 35(2), апрель.
    10. Youngmi Lee, 2010. "Impact Fees Decision Mechanism: Growth Management Decisions In Local Political Market," International Review of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 59-72, September.
    11. Ghebru, Hosaena, 2015. "Is There a Merit to the Continuum Tenure Approach? A Case of Demand for Land Rights Formulation in Rural Mozambique," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211683, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    12. Sung-Hee Jwa, 2024. "Korea�s Saemaul Undong Revisited as Rural Development Game for Poverty Eradication: A New Development Economics Perspective (Article)," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 63(1), pages 19-44.
    13. repec:zbw:bofitp:2007_005 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Kenneth Koford, 1991. "Why the Ex-Communist Countries Should Take the 'Middle Way' to the Market," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_54, Levy Economics Institute.
    15. Alexeev, Michael & Natkhov, Timur & Polishchuk, Leonid, 2024. "Institutions, abilities, and the allocation of talent: Evidence from Russian regions," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 271-296.
    16. Schlicht, Ekkehart, 1992. "On Custom," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 37769, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    17. Stefan Voigt, 2011. "Positive constitutional economics II—a survey of recent developments," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 146(1), pages 205-256, January.
    18. Elias Khalil, 2001. "The context problematic, behavioral economics and the transactional view: an introduction to 'John Dewey and economic theory'," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 107-130.
    19. Chakrabarty, Subrata, 2009. "The influence of national culture and institutional voids on family ownership of large firms: A country level empirical study," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 32-45, March.
    20. Cavalcanti, Carlos, 2007. "Reducing the transaction costs of development assistance Ghana's multi-donor budget support (MDBS) experience from 2003 to 2007," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4409, The World Bank.
    21. Kovac Mitja & Elkanawati Amira & Gjikolli Vita & Vandenberghe Ann-Sophie, 2020. "The Covid-19 pandemic: collective action and European public policy under stress," Central European Journal of Public Policy, Sciendo, vol. 14(2), pages 47-59, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:copoec:v:4:y:1993:i:1:p:97-125. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.