About the Course

The Course on Institutional Economics is an essential step towards understanding institutions and their role in economics and society. During this course we will show that in the world where all transactions are connected with costs and people squint towards opportunism it is important to create rules and systematically monitor everyone following them. Together these rules and enforcement mechanisms are called institutions. 

The main objective of this course is to demonstrate how institutions work in various spheres, what happens if they become weak or inefficient. We will talk about the institution of property rights and about contracts, will look for historic examples and analyze modern cases, will find evidence of the fact that institutions are vitally important for the prosperity of countries as well as for making the simplest transactions between citizens possible. 

The Course on Institutional Economics gives an overview of modern institutional theory, its development and current state, its basic instruments and approaches. Special focus is made on ways to use these instruments and approaches for solving real-life problems.