Barry R. Weingast Books

Our starting point is the interrelationship between violence, organizations, and institutions. No society can function without resolving the problem of violence. When multiple groups have the capacity for organized violence, social order depends on establishing credible agreements among them. Instit...

From State Formation and Political Order: The Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions

Most historical societies have dealt with violence by limiting access to power and resources. We call these systems limited access orders or 'natural states'. Their logic is straightforward: elites cooperate to monopolize valuable rights—land, trade, political offices—in exchange for maintaining pea...

From State Formation and Political Order: The Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions

At the heart of modern political economy lie several theoretical pillars—rational choice, collective action, and public choice. Each reframes political behavior as strategic, purposeful, and governed by incentives. The rational choice perspective rests on the assumption that individuals make decisio...

From The Oxford Handbook of Political Economy

Political institutions are the architecture of economic life. Constitutions define constraints on power; legislatures balance competing interests; bureaucracies administer complex policies. The institutionalist turn in political economy—pioneered by Douglass North and others—emphasizes that the rule...

From The Oxford Handbook of Political Economy