Dynamics of Social, Political, and Economic Institutions
Organized by Avinash Dixit, Eva M. Meyersson Milgrom, Paul Milgrom
December 3-4, 2010
Irvine, California
Meeting Overview:
Study of institutions that underpin political, social, and economic interactions is flourishing in all social sciences. Political scientists face the perennial issue of balancing the needs of effective decision-making and the necessary constraints on arbitrary exercise of power. Economists have begun to examine the formal and informal legal structures that protect property rights and enforce contracts. Scholars of law and jurisprudence have contributed to our understanding of institutions in both of these fields: constitutions and legislative and case law, as well as arbitration and other mechanisms of private order that function under the shadow of the law. Sociologists study the networks that constitute the structure of social interactions and the norms that govern their function. Anthropologists examine the workings of these institutions and organizations in different cultures and compare them across cultures; historians do the same for past societies.
Video Available
Friday, December 3, 2010
Session I: Norms, Customs
Social Norms and Norm Dynamics
Peyton Young
Discussant: Tomás Rodríguez Barraquer, Stanford University
The Startup Dynamic
Paul Romer
Discussant: Paul Milgrom, Stanford University
"Impossible" Institution? Dynamics of Brokerage
Kate Stovel
Session II: Alternative Paths to Institutional Change
Institutional Dynamics: When Is Change Real Change?
Bruce Carruthers
Discussant: Eva Meyersson Milgrom, Stanford University
Confronting Oppressive Customs: Reformism versus Radicalism
Jean-Philippe Platteau
Discussant: Alexander Wolitzky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Democratic Legacy of Anti-Colonial Customs
Leonard Wantchekon
Discussant: Jean Ensminger, California Institute of Technology
Culture, Institutions And The Wealth Of Nations
Gerard Roland
Discussant: David Laitin, Stanford University
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Session III: Institutions in Developing Countries
Development and the Assignment of Workers to Tasks
Marcel Fafchamps
Discussant: Moussa Blimpo, Stanford University
The Problem with Polygyny: Paternal Age and Human Capital Accumulation
Lena Edlund
Discussant: Pablo Querubin, Harvard University
State-Building: Outside In
Steven Krasner
Discussant: Avinash Dixit, Princeton University
Session IV: Legal Institutions
What is Law? A Coordination Model of the Characteristics of Legal Order
Gillian Hadfield
Discussant: Antoine Lallour, Stanford University
Resolving Contested Property Rights
Katarina Pistor
Discussant: Barak Richman, Duke University
Session V: States and Constitutions
A Political Model of Social Evolution
Georgy Egorov and Konstantin Sonin
Discussant: Yair Livne, Stanford University
A Theory of Leadership and State-Building
Roger Myerson
Discussant: Renee Bowen, Stanford University
