Der AniaB zu dieser Festschrift fiir Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Herbert Giersch ist iiber den Wunsch hinaus, zu ehren, ein besonderer: Fiir Herbert Giersch beginnt mit seiner Emeritierung durch die Wirtschafts-und Sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultat der Universitat Kiel und seinem Ausscheiden aus der Leitung des Instituts fiir Weltwirtschaft ein neuer Le bensabschnitt. DaB dies ihn nicht zum Ausruhen veranlassen wird, diirfte nicht nur sicher, sondern auch wiinschenswert sein. Herbert Gierschs bisherige wissenschaftliche Arbeit in Forschung und Lehre einzuordnen und zu bewerten, kann nicht die...

This volume confronts an important historical hypothesis with empirical evidence from selected periods of history. The hypothesis in question states that competition among political and legal organisations in developing rules has been a crucial condition for liberty, innovation and growth in the history of mankind. It is due to Immanuel Kant, Edward Gibbon and Max Weber and has been revived and further developed by Nobel-Laureate Douglass C. North who contributes the first chapter. The volume brings together political economists, historians and legal scholars to discuss the role of political...

Institutions are rules that are supported by various enforcement mechanisms. Cognition refers to the process of how men perceive and process information, whereas rationality refers to how these processes are modelled. Within institutional economics there is a growing scepticism towards extending the conventional economic frame of analysis to institutions. In particular, the notion of perfect rationality is increasingly questioned. At the same time human cognition has become a major field of research in psychology. This book explores what institutional economics can learn from cognitive...