Institutions are not necessarily efficient; following Douglass North, institutions can be highly inefficient or even pathological because institutional evolution lacks the selection pressures (mergers, natural selection) that weed out bad forms — so dysfunctional poverty-perpetuating norms can persist for a very long time.

causalpending

Speaker

Michael Munger

Evidence Quote

I'm a duck north student and one of the things I thought that was most interesting about northeast there's no reason to assume institutions or efficient organizations are efficient but institutions can be highly inefficient even pathological

Source

Mike Munger on Microfinance, Savings, and Poverty 04/18/2011EconTalk
Created: 6/17/2026, 10:29:24 AM

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