This volume addresses the significance of institutional economics for the developing world. It blends together theoretical and empirical contributions from a range of disciplines - notably development studies, economics and economic history. The work begins with an overview of the origins and scope of the new institutional economics. Subsequent chapters extend this, providing critical commentaries and a theory which has challenged the orthodoxies about development, especially concerning the role of markets. The remaining chapters deal with theoretical issues and with institutions, markets and the state in a wide range of geographical and historical contexts.