Open research questions in Economic Theory and Institutions
528 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 4,346 Economic Theory and Institutions papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.
What the literature leaves open
social change centre on industrial principles of for organisation. When we social scientists speak on the development of the third world , further industrialisation. Fifth , the achievement of an industrialised society equals progress. We overlook other kinds of achievement when we classify the nations of the world. for example, we limit ourselves to prescriptions for is more, Badham has also come to tame the beast. He argues that the image of industrial society plays a dominant role in the social sciences. True enough .
Theories of Industrial Society by Richard Badham (Croom Helm, London, 1986) pp. 188, $49.95, ISBN 0-7099-3921-3 · 1986 · DOIAs seen in this figure the centralization o f trade unions and wage- n e g o t i a t i o n s produces two contradictory results - o n the one h a n d con- sensus and on the other intense conflict.
While it might seem that the amount of consumption out of profits is limited to any dividends paid out and other forms of rentier income not rein vested, this item actually encompasses a much broader set of income flows.
That they do not comment on this in determining their own actions is scarcely to suggest that they are not taking a value position.
Lavoie endorses this, adding the economist's argument that resources are scarce so not all possibilities can be pursued.
The article identifies a gap in understanding how different types of knowledge affect production, coordination, and entrepreneurial profit. It highlights the need for a typology of knowledge to address this gap.
Further research could explore the impact of Redlich's work on business history. The article suggests that understanding the context of a scholar's work is important.
The article identifies a gap in the understanding of Redlich's career and influence. The gap is related to the lack of knowledge about his epistemological foundation for entrepreneurial history.
Future research could explore the application of the study's findings to other financial markets. Further research could examine the impact of quantitative valuation practices on financial market outcomes.
(Re-)assembling the gilt-edged market: quantification, model misfire, and the politics of expertise in post war Britain · 2026 · DOIThere is a gap in understanding the historical process behind the emergence of yield-based calculative practices. The paper identifies a need to examine the role of expertise in shaping financial markets.
(Re-)assembling the gilt-edged market: quantification, model misfire, and the politics of expertise in post war Britain · 2026 · DOIThe paper identifies the challenge of establishing a sovereign authority that can protect natural rights and maintain social order. The paper highlights the difficulty of balancing individual rights with the need for a strong central authority.
The Économistes and the Genesis of the State: A Physiocratic Reinterpretation of the Social Contract · 2026 · DOIThe growing gap between the Church's material wealth and popular living conditions, together with widespread corruption among clerical elites, increasingly eroded its moral legitimacy. The English Reformation faced challenges from the Catholic Church and the people who were against the reform movement.
Comparison of King Alfred of Wessex and King Henry VIII of England in Terms of Their Economic and Political Objectives: The Founding of the Kingdom of England · 2026 · DOIThe historical institutionalist approach emphasizes that the modern state is not the product of a sudden break, but rather of a long-term and gradual process of institutional transformation. The state's fiscal power and administrative capacity are formed not in a single historical period but through the continuity of institutional practices accumulated over different periods.
Comparison of King Alfred of Wessex and King Henry VIII of England in Terms of Their Economic and Political Objectives: The Founding of the Kingdom of England · 2026 · DOIThe lack of a broader perspective on Samuelson's dynamics - The need to relate Samuelson's views to both formal dynamic modeling and verbal accounts of dynamics and market processes
MAURO BOIANOVSKY ON SAMUELSONIAN DYNAMICS AND THE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF MARKET PROCESSES · 2026 · DOIThe lack of critical thinking in economics, leading to a lack of constructive dialogue between different research programs. The limitations of critical thinking, including ontological, epistemological, and axiological limitations, which must be acknowledged and addressed.
The paper identifies a gap in the recognition of Hirschman's work and its relevance to the current crisis of liberal democracy. It notes a lack of understanding of the complexity of the social world and the limits to its intelligibility. The paper argues that economists' paradigm thinking oversimplifies the complex, uncertain world, highlighting a need for alternative approaches.
The lack of a comprehensive monograph on Valenti's work. The need to reconcile Valenti's characteristics with economic analysis of law. The importance of understanding the theoretical origins of the Valenti cooperative movement.
There is a gap between the assumption of neoclassical economics that individuals' economic behaviour is consistent with maximizing theories of rational choice and the evidence that individuals' decisions often reveal inconsistent preferences.
Not limited to the University of Chicago precincts, the story also takes the reader back, for example, to the nineteenth-century currency school–banking school controversy, showing how the 1844 Bank of England Charter Act provided an inspiration for the Chicago Plan of banking reform.
The Monetarists: The Making of the Chicago Monetary Tradition, 1927–1960 by George S. Tavlas · 2024 · DOIRelatively little is known about the relationship between Carl Menger, founder of the Austrian school of economics, and his son, Karl Menger, the mathematician, geometer, logician, and philosopher of science, whose mathematical colloquium at the University of Vienna was essential for the development of mathematical economics.
The article defines the concept of economic mentality as informal institution, analyzes the basic approaches to the interpretation of this category in institutional theory, the structure of the institutional environment, indicates the place and role of economic mentality in the system of institutional factors of economic development, outlines the prospects for further research of this problem.
ABSTRACT ABSTRACT Bryan Caplan’s The Myth of the Rational Voter treats several immensely important and understudied topics—public ignorance of economics, political ideology, and their connection to policy error—from an orthodox economic perspective whose applicability to these topics is overwhelmingly disproven by the available evidence.
Among the 90 private managers in this Institutional 100, nearly every firm manages both mutual funds and pension funds, though the relative importance of each varies widely.
Reflections on "Toward Common Sense and Common Ground?" · 2007While a considerable body of empirical investigations seems to provide evidence of positive correlations between stock market development and economic growth, there is no consensus in other social sciences as to whether there are two‐way linkages, and if so, how to conceive a possible mechanism of interaction.
The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of the role of intellectual pedigrees in economic science. It highlights the need to examine the functions of intellectual pedigrees in both normal and revolutionary science.
Most-cited papers in Economic Theory and Institutions
- Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness · American Journal of Sociology · 1985 · 19,104 citations
- The Nature of the Firm · Economica · 1937 · 14,418 citations
- The Science of "Muddling Through" · Public Administration Review · 1959 · 5,140 citations
- Institutions · The Journal of Economic Perspectives · 1991 · 4,666 citations
- Comparative Economic Organization: The Analysis of Discrete Structural Alternatives · Administrative Science Quarterly · 1991 · 4,511 citations
- The New Institutional Economics: Taking Stock, Looking Ahead · Journal of Economic Literature · 2000 · 4,089 citations
- Toward a More General Theory of Regulation · The Journal of Law and Economics · 1976 · 2,895 citations
- The Political Business Cycle · The Review of Economic Studies · 1975 · 2,439 citations
- An Economic Theory of Clubs · Economica · 1965 · 1,887 citations
- The General Theory of Second Best · The Review of Economic Studies · 1956 · 1,495 citations
Most recent work
- Paternalism after behavioral economics · Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization · 2026
- Consumer choice, market power, and inflation · European Economic Review · 2026
- Market Society as a Liberal Utopia · Journal of Contemporary Asia · 2026
- Chick, Keynesian fundamentalism and Keynes’s General Theory : a question of relevance · Journal of Post Keynesian Economics · 2026
- Revisiting the century-old Keynes-Ramsey dispute: A lattice-theoretic reinterpretation and a coherent solution · Theory and Decision · 2026
- Rule-Based Order, Discretion, and Credible Commitment: Insights from Smith and Hayek · International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research · 2026
- Austrian Economics and Knowledge · Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics · 2026
- Fritz Redlich (1892–1978): An Intellectual Portrait · The Business History Review · 2026
- 250 Years of The Wealth of Nations: The Market-State Debate Across Time and Place · International Politics · 2026
- The Entrepreneur in the History of Political Economy: The Hunting for Heffalumps in the Early Economic Analysis · History: Reviews of New Books · 2026
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