Structure and Change in the Political Economy of Douglass North

Abstract

In Structure and Change in Economic History Douglass North outlines a non-Marxist structural analysis that he uses to describe behavior that cannot be accounted for with a simple rational actor model. His consideration of political structures as a context for economic activity carries him far beyond the limits of historical neoclassical analysis. Problematic assumptions produce difficulties for his attempt to build a macrohistorical theory, but his approach is potentially invaluable for social scientists studying behavior within a single general structure such as the modern state.