Cognitive rules, institutions, and economic growth: Douglass North and beyond

Douglass North's writing on institutional change recognized from the very start that such change depends on cognition and beliefs. Yet, although he focused on individual beliefs, we argue in this paper that such beliefs are social constructs. We suggest that institutions – rules, expectations,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of institutional economics Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 25 - 52
Main Authors GREIF, AVNER, MOKYR, JOEL
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.03.2017
Subjects
Cognition & reasoning
Decision making
Economic growth
Economic history
Economic theory
Incentives
Organizational change
Social life & customs
Society
Studies
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Douglass North's writing on institutional change recognized from the very start that such change depends on cognition and beliefs. Yet, although he focused on individual beliefs, we argue in this paper that such beliefs are social constructs. We suggest that institutions – rules, expectations, and norms – are based on shared cognitive rules. Cognitive rules are social constructs that convey information that distills and summarizes society's beliefs and experience. These rules have to be self-enforcing and self-confirming, but they do not have to be ‘correct’. We describe the characteristics of such rules in the context of a market for ideas, and illustrate their importance in two developments central to the growth of modern economies: the rise of the modern state with its legitimacy based on consent, and the rise of modern science-based technology that was the product of the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment.
ISSN:1744-1374
1744-1382
DOI:10.1017/S1744137416000370