This collection of empirical studies analyses historical and contemporary institutions and institutional change in various parts of the world.

Introduction; A note on theory Thráinn Eggertsson; Empirical work in institutional economics Lee J. Alston; 1. Towards an understanding of property rights Gary D. Libecap; 2. Impediments to institutional change in the Soviet system Jan Winiecki; 3. Transaction costs and economic development Andrew Stone, Brian Levy and Ricardo Paredes; 4. The evolution of the modern institutions of growth Douglass C. North and Barry R. Weingast; 5. Regulation in a dynamic setting Anne O. Krueger; 6. Price controls, property rights and institutional change Steven N. S. Cheung; 7. Regulating natural resources: the evolution of perverse property rights Robert Higgs; 8. The politics of institutional change in a representative democracy William H. Riker and Itai Sened; 9. The economics and politics of institutional change Lee J. Alston and Joseph P. Ferrie; Epilogue: Economic performance through time Douglass C. North.