Stefan Voigt is Chair of Economic Analysis of Law at the Universität Hamburg and Director of its Institute of Law and Economics. He is also a fellow with CESifo (Munich). Voigt is one of the editors of Constitutional Political Economy and a member of various editorial boards, including those of Public Choice and the International Review of Law and Economics.

• Preface; Introduction; 1. The basics; 2. Simple transactions; 3. Repeated and long-term transactions: on the choice of governance structures with given institutions; 4. Institutions and collective action; 5. The relevance of institutions for growth and development; 6. Explaining differences in external institutions across societies; 7. Explaining change in internal institutions; 8. On the need for normative theory; 9. Consequences for economic policy; 10. Outlook.

'This book covers both contemporary and historical thinking on topics which are at the core of our understanding of how markets and governments work. Although grounded in economics research and thinking, it is written in a way that makes it accessible to a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds.' Timothy Besley, W. Arthur Lewis Professor of Development Economics, London School of Economics