New Institutional Economics
incorporates a theory of institutions into economics. It builds on,
modifies, and extends neoclassical theory.
It retains and builds on the fundamental assumption of scarcity and
hence competition - the basis of the choice theoretic approach that
underlies microeconomics.
It has developed as a movement within the social sciences that unites theoretical and empirical research examining the role of institutions in
furthering or
preventing economic growth. It
includes work in transaction costs, political economy, property
rights, hierarchy and organization, and public choice.