Institutions and Transition - Possible Policy Implications of the New Institutional Economics

Possible policy implications of the New Institutional Economics are dealt with. Before spelling them out, the core questions of this research program as well as its main assumptions and hypotheses are described. Since a familiar reproach toward the New Institutional Economics is its lack of empirical results, empirical insights are surveyed. Special emphasis is put on the explanation of the transition experience of the Central and Eastern European countries. The paper lists data desiderata whose reduction could spur further academic progress. As a policy-oriented paper, it explicitly names a number of policy implications that can be derived from the New Institutional Economics