For almost two decades now, scholars rooted in the “old” institutional economics (OIE) have watched with great interest, and perhaps some envy as well, as the “new” institutional economics (NIE) has taken root within the economics profession and gained legitimacy.(1) There are methodologists who believe that the conceptual elements of an analytical system are interrelated and hence that a concept cannot as a rule be transported to an “alien” analytical system and retain its original meaning.(2) Thus, it has been a matter of some interest to proponents of the OIE whether: (1) the NIE represents a competitive approach to economic analysis and hence a borrowing of its constructs entails shifting to a fundamentally different system of meanings – that is, requires an abandonment of the OIE standpoint; or (2) whether the NIE is to some degree congruent and hence provides constructs and knowledge that can fruitfully be wedded to and thereby enhance the OIE standpoint.
