Institutions and Norms in Institutional Economics and Sociology

Abstract

The concept of institutions and the related theoretical issues of their normativity and enforcement are still a matter of controversy among social scientists, including economists. The present article establishes a conceptual distinction between institutions, social norms, and decision-theoretic norms, arguing that some institutions may not be norms of any kind. Using the concepts developed previously, it then examines whether and how institutions have been treated as norms in institutional economics and in sociology.