Following Douglas North, neo-institutionalists claim that institutions are the "primary" cause of economic development, "deeper" than the factors identified by marxism as "forces of production". Yet while the conclusions are different, the historical narratives differ little across these perspectives. The article discusses how such conclusions are derived and argues that is improper the claim for a "causal primacy": institutions and development are mutually endogenous and the most one can hope for is to identify their reciprocal impacts.
institutions; economic development; neo-institutionalism; marxism
