Douglass C. North (1920-)

Premiu Nobel  1993

Economist nordamerican, profesor la Washington University din St. Louis, Missouri.  Obtine Premiul Nobel in Economie in 1993, impartit cu  Robert W. Fogel  pentru a fi renovat investigarea istoriei economice aplicand teoria economica si metodele cantitative pentru a explica schimbul economic si institutional. 

In anii cincizeci North isi incepe analiza istorica in limitele teoriei neoclasice.  Critica conceptiile etapiste ale cresterii ce conduc la supraevaluarea rolului industrializarii in dezvoltarea economica. Observa importanta pe care au avut-o in Statele Unite agricultura si productia pentru export.

In anii saizeci incearca sa-si generalizeze studiile de forma sa inteleaga cresterea economica a Europei si a intregii "Western World" dar descopera in curand limitele analizei si metodologia neoclasica. Face o adanca critica  asupra presupunerilor simplificate ale realitatii in folosul stiintei economice si propune adoptarea de presupuneri mai realiste ca cele folosite de evolutionistii economici Sidney Winter si Jack Hirshleifer.

In intregul sau proces de gandire dobandeste mai mult spatiu conceptul de institutie ce se transforma in final in cheia explicativa a evolutiei si dezvoltarii economice. Douglass North se transforma astfel intr-unul din pionierii neoinstitutionalismului la care aporta schema sa teoretica mai intelegatoare si coerenta.

LUCRARI

• “Location Theory and RegionalEconomic Growth,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 63, Nº 3 (June 1955), pp. 243-58.

  Apasati aici pentru a vedea cartile lui Douglass C. North puse in vanzare

• “Agriculture in Regional Economic Growth,” Journal of Farm Economics, Vol. 41, Nº 5 (December 1959), pp 943-51.
• North, Douglass C. (1966). The Economic Growth of the United States, 1790-1860. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.
• North, Douglass C. (1968). “Sources of Productivity Change in Ocean Shipping, 1600-1850.”
  Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 76 (September-October), pp. 953-70. 
• North, Douglass C. & Davis, Lance. (1970). “Institutional Change and American Economic
  Growth: A First Step Towards a Theory of Institutional Change.” Journal of Economic
  History, Vol. XXX (March), pp. 131-49. 
• North, Douglass C. & Thomas, Robert Paul. (1970). “An Economic Theory of the Growth
  of the Western World.” Economic History Review, Vol. XXIII (April), pp. 1-17. C
• North, Douglass C. & Thomas, Robert Paul. (1971). “The Rise and Fall of the Manorial
  System: A Theoretical Model.” Journal of Economic History (December). 
• North, Douglass C. & Davis, Lance E. (1971). Institutional Change and American
  Economic Growth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 
• North, Douglass C. & Thomas, Robert Paul. (1973). The Rise of the Western World. A New
  Economic History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• "The First Economic Revolution", con R.P. Thomas, 1977, Econ Hist Rev. 
• "Structure and Performance: the task of economic history", 1978, JEL 
• North, Douglass C. (1981). Structure and Change in Economic History. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.
• North, Douglass C. (1990). Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• North, Douglass C. (1993). “Economic Performance Through Time.” Prize Lectures in Economic Science in memory of Alfred Nobel.