IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/4747.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

New economic sociology and new institutional economics

Author

Listed:
  • Richter, Rudolf

Abstract

This paper deals with similarities and differences between new economic sociology (NES) and new institu-tional economics (NIE). We start with brief reports on the basic ideas of NES and NIE. Regarding the latter, we concentrate on NIE in the sense of Oliver Williamson who introduced the term and whose work became the main target of sociologists’ critique. We show that the contrast between the two fields is less sharp than some social scien-tists might assume. We then present a review and assessment of the attack of seven sociologists on Oliver William-son’s ideas. The sociologists are Perrow, Fligstein, Freeland, Granovetter, Bradach & Eccles, and Powell. Their battering ram “social network theory” is briefly described and an attempt made to combine network analysis with new institutional economics as understood by Williamson, i.e., his transaction cost economics. The paper is con-cluded with some thoughts on the convergence of NES and NIE.

Suggested Citation

  • Richter, Rudolf, 2001. "New economic sociology and new institutional economics," MPRA Paper 4747, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:4747
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/4747/1/MPRA_paper_4747.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul R. Milgrom & Douglass C. North & Barry R. Weingast*, 1990. "The Role Of Institutions In The Revival Of Trade: The Law Merchant, Private Judges, And The Champagne Fairs," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(1), pages 1-23, March.
    2. David J. TEECE, 2008. "Profiting from technological innovation: Implications for integration, collaboration, licensing and public policy," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: The Transfer And Licensing Of Know-How And Intellectual Property Understanding the Multinational Enterprise in the Modern World, chapter 5, pages 67-87, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    3. Williamson, Oliver E, 1979. "Transaction-Cost Economics: The Governance of Contractural Relations," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(2), pages 233-261, October.
    4. Bergstrom, Theodore C, 1995. "On the Evolution of Altruistic Ethical Rules for Siblings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(1), pages 58-81, March.
    5. Knight,Jack, 1993. "Institutions and Social Conflict," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521421898, October.
    6. R. H. Coase, 2013. "The Problem of Social Cost," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(4), pages 837-877.
    7. Oliver E. Williamson, 2000. "The New Institutional Economics: Taking Stock, Looking Ahead," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(3), pages 595-613, September.
    8. Postlewaite, Andrew, 1998. "The social basis of interdependent preferences," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(3-5), pages 779-800, May.
    9. Harold Demsetz, 1968. "The Cost of Transacting," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 82(1), pages 33-53.
    10. repec:ucp:bkecon:9780226531083 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Bernstein, Lisa, 1992. "Opting Out of the Legal System: Extralegal Contractual Relations in the Diamond Industry," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 115-157, January.
    12. Hamilton, Gary G & Feenstra, Robert C, 1995. "Varieties of Hierarchies and Markets: An Introduction," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 4(1), pages 51-91.
    13. Oliver E. Williamson, 1976. "Franchise Bidding for Natural Monopolies -- in General and with Respect to CATV," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 7(1), pages 73-104, Spring.
    14. Oliver E. Williamson & Scott E. Masten (ed.), 1995. "Transaction Cost Economics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, volume 0, number 594.
    15. William M. Dugger, 1996. "The Mechanisms of Governance," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(4), pages 1212-1216, December.
    16. Rachel E. Kranton & Deborah F. Minehart, 2001. "A Theory of Buyer-Seller Networks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(3), pages 485-508, June.
    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. Henrik Egbert & Teodor Sedlarski, 2011. "Exploring Impact: Negative Effects of Social Networks," International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, vol. 1(2), pages 1-80.
    2. Dieter Bögenhold, 2008. "Economics, Sociology, History: Notes on Their Loss of Unity, Their Need for Re-integration and the Current Relevance of the Controversy between Carl Menger and Gustav Schmoller," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 85-101, January.
    3. Kirsten, J, 2002. "Forty Years Of Agricultural Economics Scholarship And Practice In South Africa: A Time To Challenge The Consensus And Refocus Our Intellectual Work," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 41(4).
    4. Elisabeth Benecke, 2011. "Networking for climate change: agency in the context of renewable energy governance in India," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 23-42, March.
    5. Dieter Bögenhold, 2008. "„Social embeddedness”: how new economic sociology goes into the offensive and meets the own roots," The Journal of Philosophical Economics, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, The Journal of Philosophical Economics, vol. 2(1), pages 76-114, November.

    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. 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.
    2. Pablo T. Spiller, 2011. "Basic Economic Principles of Infrastructure Liberalization: A Transaction Cost Perspective," Chapters, in: Matthias Finger & Rolf W. Künneke (ed.), International Handbook of Network Industries, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Williamson, Oliver E., 2010. "Transaction Cost Economics: The Natural Progression," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 215-226.
    4. repec:zbw:inwedp:702017 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Gagliardi, Francesca, 2008. "Institutions and economic change: A critical survey of the new institutional approaches and empirical evidence," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 416-443, February.
    6. Oliver E. Williamson, 2005. "The Economics of Governance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 1-18, May.
    7. Robert Gibbons, 2010. "Transaction‐Cost Economics: Past, Present, and Future?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 112(2), pages 263-288, June.
    8. Martin Kniepert, 2017. "Bringing Institutions into Economics when Teaching Economics as a Minor Subject," Working Papers 702017, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Department of Economics and Social Sciences, Institute for Sustainable Economic Development.
    9. Wang, Sen & Bogle, Tim & van Kooten, G. Cornelis, 2012. "Forestry and the New Institutional Economics," Working Papers 130818, University of Victoria, Resource Economics and Policy.
    10. Balmaceda, Felipe & Escobar, Juan F., 2017. "Trust in cohesive communities," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 289-318.
    11. Ji, Chen & de Felipe, Isabel & Briz, Julian & Trienekens, Jacques H., 2012. "An Empirical Study on Governance Structure Choices in China´s Pork Supply Chain," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 15(2), pages 1-32, May.
    12. Phan, Thu-Ha Dang & Brouwer, Roy & Davidson, Marc David, 2017. "A Global Survey and Review of the Determinants of Transaction Costs of Forestry Carbon Projects," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 1-10.
    13. Foundjem-Tita, Divine & Speelman, Stijn & D'Haese, Marijke & Degrande, Ann & Van Huylenbroeck, Guido & Van Damme, Patrick & Tchoundjeu, Zac, 2014. "A tale of transaction costs and forest law compliance: Trade permits for Non Timber Forests Products in Cameroon," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 132-142.
    14. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/4vc7skecu3q7u7s984pgpg64m is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Nicolaï Foss & Nils Stieglitz, 2012. "Modern Resource-based Theory(ies)," Chapters, in: Michael Dietrich & Jackie Krafft (ed.), Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm, chapter 20, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Coggan, Anthea & Buitelaar, Edwin & Whitten, Stuart & Bennett, Jeff, 2013. "Factors that influence transaction costs in development offsets: Who bears what and why?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 222-231.
    17. Keck, Alexander & Schropp, Simon, 2007. "Indisputably essential: The economics of dispute settlement institutions in trade agreements," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2007-02, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    18. Mike, Károly, 2016. "Merre vezessen a magyar kapitalizmus útja?. Látkép Ronald Coase világítótornyából [Which course for Hungary s capitalism?. A view from Ronald Coase s lighthouse]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(6), pages 597-614.
    19. Wandel, Jürgen, 2011. "Integrierte Strukturen im Agrar- und Ernährungssektor Russlands: Entstehungsgründe, Funktionsweise, Entwicklungsperspektiven und volkswirtschaftliche Auswirkungen. Band I und II," Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Transition Economies, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), volume 63, number 63.
    20. Aric Rindfleisch, 2020. "Transaction cost theory: past, present and future," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 10(1), pages 85-97, June.
    21. Heikki Marjosola, 2021. "The problem of regulatory arbitrage: A transaction cost economics perspective," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(2), pages 388-407, April.
    22. Ben said, Hayet, 2011. "Gestion publique du périmètre irrigué : Accord informel, corruption et recherche de rente [Public management of water in irrigated aera:informal agreement,corruption and rent-seeking]," MPRA Paper 34217, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    New institutional economics; transaction cost economics; economic sociology;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation
    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals
    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;

    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:pra:mprapa:4747. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    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.