Institutions are man-made entities and their workings, as well as the changes they may undergo, is fundamentally imbued in language and communication. In analysing the role of socio-cultural values, this book argues that communication and language is inseparable from both the economy and a meaningful understanding of insitutions.

Autorentext
WILFRED DOLFSMA is Professor of Innovation and Strategy at the University of Groningen School of Economics and Business, the Netherlands, and professorial fellow at Maastricht University (UNU-MERIT). He is both an economist and philosopher and holds a PhD in the former. He was 2005/6 research fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies (NIAS) and is corresponding editor for the Review of Social Economy. His research interests are the interrelations between economy, society and technology. He has published on various aspects of media industries, feminist economics as well as on globalisation, and the developments in and effects of IPR. In addition, as an institutional economist, Dolfsma does research in the history and methodology of economics, and consumption. He has co-edited Understanding the Dynamics of the Knowledge Economy (ed. with Luc Soete, 2006), Globalization, Social Capital and Inequality (ed. with Charlie Dannreuther, 2003), Knowledge Economies (Routledge, 2008), The Elgar Companion to Social Economics (ed. with John Davis; Edward Elgar, 2008), and published Institutional Economics and the Formation of Preferences (2004). The latter monograph won him the Gunnar Myrdal Prize (2006). His articles have featured in, a.o., the Journal of Economics Issues, the Journal of Evolutionary Economics, the Journal of Economic and Social Geography, the Journal of Business Ethics,The Information Society and Research Policy.

Inhalt
List of Tables, Figures, Boxes Preface Introduction Economy& Society (How do they relate?) Institutions, Institutional Change and Language Structure, Agency and the Role of Values in Processes of Institutional Change Silent Trade Knowledge Coordination and Development via Market, Hierarchy and Gift Exchange Making Knowledge Work in Organizations Path Dependence in Organization Consumption of Symbolic Goods Law& Economics: bankruptcy law Conclusion References Index