Property rights theory: dynamics of institutions

6 important questions on Property rights theory: dynamics of institutions

What is the design approach in institutional change?

Design institutions: to change the structure in which behaviour of actors is embedded to produce a more desirable outcome. The focus is on the design of formal public institutions (laws and regulations). An example is property rights reform.

What is the naive view in the design approach?

Property rights arise to internalize externalities when the gains of internalization become larger than the cost of internalization

Why does pressure to change existing property rights emerge?

  1. Shifts in relative prices
  2. Changes in production / enforcement technology
  3. Shifts in preferences
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What is the interest group view in the design approach?

Even though society would be better off with new property rights institutions, the distributional implications lead influential parties to oppose institutional change

What is institutional change according to the evolutionary approach?


§Institutions as an equilibrium
●Institutions come about without individual or collectivist intent
§Multiple equilibriums: history matters
●Darwinian evolution:
●Mutation
●Selection
●Inheritance and retention
●Path dependence

What are the three forces of path dependence in institutional change?

  1. Large initial set-up costs when institutions are created
  2. Strong learning effects for organizations that want to take advantage of opportunities in the institutional environment
  3. Information is incomplete and fragmented, there are high transaction costs


Under such circumstances divergent paths and poor performance can persist.

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