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What is an institution?

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Author Info
SEARLE, JOHN R.
Abstract

When I was an undergraduate in Oxford, we were taught economics almost as though it were a natural science. The subject matter of economics might be different from physics, but only in the way that the subject matter of chemistry or biology is different from physics. The actual results were presented to us as if they were scientific theories. So, when we learned that savings equals investment, it was taught in the same tone of voice as one teaches that force equals mass times acceleration. And we learned that rational entrepreneurs sell where marginal cost equals marginal revenue in the way that we once learned that bodies attract in a way that is directly proportional to the product of their mass and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. At no point was it ever suggested that the reality described by economic theory was dependent on human beliefs and other attitudes in a way that was totally unlike the reality described by physics or chemistry.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Cambridge University Press in its journal Journal of Institutional Economics.

Volume (Year): 1 (2005)
Issue (Month): 01 (June)
Pages: 1-22
Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Handle: RePEc:cup:jinsec:v:1:y:2005:i:01:p:1-22_00

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  1. Nikolay Nenovsky, 2009. "On Money as an Institution," ICER Working Papers 12-2009, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  2. Dolfsma, W.A. & McMaster, R. & Finch, J., 2005. "Institutions, Institutional Change, Language, and Searle," Research Paper ERS-2005-067-ORG Revision, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus Uni. [Downloadable!]
  3. Foss, Nicolai & Garzarelli, Giampaolo, 2006. "Institutions as Knowledge Capital: Ludwig M. Lachmann’s Interpretative Institutionalism," MPRA Paper 3087, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Purica, Ionut, 2007. "Institutional Structures as Benard Taylor Processeses," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 4(2), pages 69-75, June. [Downloadable!]
  5. Steve Fleetwood, 2007. "Austrian economics and the analysis of labor markets," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 247-267, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Alberto Battistini, 2008. "Micro-Founded Institutions and Macro-Founded Individuals: The Dual Nature of Profit," Department of Economics University of Siena 550, Department of Economics, University of Siena. [Downloadable!]
  7. Di Tella, Rafael & Dubra, Juan, 2006. "Crime and Punishment in the "American Dream"," MPRA Paper 500, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-21.

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