Department of Economics

Course: Free Elective Course

Title: Institutional Economics

Code: ECO464

Semester: B

Instructor: G. Adjunct Lecturer (ESPA Grant)

Aims and Objectives

The purpose of the course is to discuss the importance and role of institutions, as well as their impact on the development and performance of economies. The course focuses on the three basic aspects of New Institutional Economics: (i) transaction cost economics (TCE), (ii) property rights theory, and (iii) contract theory. The relationship between economic and political institutions, as well as its impact on economic development, will also be studied.

Topics covered:

• Neoclassical economics and institutions. An introduction to New Institutional Economics.
• Transaction costs –Transaction cost economics (TCE).
• Externalities and property rights. Coase theorem.
• Tragedy of the commons.
• Contract theory: asymmetric information.
• Incomplete contracts (Grossman & Hart – property-rights theory of the firm).
• Institutional change and economic performance (Douglass North).

CourseBooks: 

D. North. Θεσμοί, θεσμική αλλαγή και οικονομική επίδοση, Εκδόσεις Παπαζήση, 2006.

Handbook of New Institutional Economics (edited by C. Menard and M. Shirley), 2008, Springer. Chapters 1 – 3, 12 – 14, 21 – 22, 24)