The Border of New Institutional Economics:Three Representative Views and a Comparison among Them

Regarding issues on the border of new institutional economics,new institutional economists(Williamson,O.E.and Richter,Rudolf),old institutional economists(Hodgson,Geoffrey) and historians of economics(Rutherford,Malcolm)express some differences not only in the basis of depicting the border of new institutional economists but also in reflecting the intellectual achievement of new institutional economics.New institutional economists believe,when deciding whether some kind of institutional analysis belongs to new institutional economics,the key is whether the theoretical hypotheses include uncertainty,limited rationality and explicitly or implicitly positive transaction costs.In fact,old institutional economists and historians of economics further broaden the border of new institutional economics.They penetrate into the ontological lay and think some kind of institutional analysis belongs to new institutional economics as long as it insists the individualistic methodology.However,the border defined by new institutional economists is rather accurate and objective in reflecting the intellectual achievement of new institutional economics.