Indice degli autori

Abstract: The awarding of the Nobel prize to Douglass C. North – together with Robert W. Fogel – in 1993 had a double effect. On the one hand, it contributed significantly to the legitimacy of the economic history as a field of study within the economic sciences and, on the other, it reinforced the neo-institutionalist approach itself. The prize awarded to North, however, has also had a third consequence, which is related to the two dynamics already mentioned: the adoption of the neo-institutionalist approach for a growing number of economic history research. Over the last three decades, the use of the NIE as interpretive framework has increased, although it is necessary to remember the risks and the limits of this approach. With this third volume of the journal we want to propose a collection of empirical articles inspired by the neo-institutionalist approach in order to offer the scientific community original ideas for reflection and debate on a methodological orientation that does not cease to be the object of international comparisons and debates. The eight essays contained in this volume, which span from the late medieval to the 20th century, address these issues, investigating the role of formal and informal institutions as merchant companies, law and tribunals, consulates and board of trade, apprenticeship, privileges and guilds, institutional markets and contemporary cartels. They confirm how the NIE is a fruitful approach to read and understand the dynamics of economic change, whether evolutionary or not. However, the interpretive effectiveness is closely linked to a rigorous and coherent application of the coordinates provided by theory.

Keywords: Institutions; Economic History; New Institutional Economics; Social History; Social Sciences