Enterprise and Society Advance Access originally published online on February 2, 2007
Enterprise and Society 2007 8(1):177-179; doi:10.1093/es/khm004
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Copyright © The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference.
Douglass C. North. Understanding the Process of Economic Change
Douglass C. North. Understanding the Process of Economic Change. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2005. xi + 187 pp. ISBN 0-691-11805-1, $29.95
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Viewing recent economic history, no one can doubt that changing institutions to allow economic growth is "hard, really hard!" This latest work by Professor North attempts to explain just why it is so hard. Part I, "The Issues Involved in Understanding Economic Growth," lays the basis for understanding why, once humans have created institutions and embedded them within a cultural belief system, they are so difficult to change, even when they become economically dysfunctional. Part II, "The Road Ahead," surveys specific examples of the difficulties encountered in making the
University of Illinois