«(...) we have a huge lack is in understanding the dynamics of change. Our theories are essentially static. Most of us in this room understand the elements needed for a good economy: clear and enforceable property rights, the rule of law, etc. But what we severely lack is a theory of social change. Our inability to understand the basic mechanisms of social change is evident in practical application. The disastrous programs of so-called transitional economies provide abundant evidence that we do not know how societies really change, and without that knowledge we have to admit that while we know what makes for a good economy, we don't actually know how to get good economies.»
Douglass C. North (Nobel); Spencer T. Olin (Professor of Arts and Sciences at Washington University) @ The International Society of New Institutional Economics
