Institutional economics – a potential tool of the research on socio-economic development of regions

Abstract

Despite not questioning the important role of the processes of globalization in shaping the conditions for national economies, there is still a discussion on the role of regions (considered as the components of states) in economic development. Despite globalization processes, territorial specificity is increasingly being exposed as an important, if not the primary factor in building sustainable competitive advantage.Institutional economics, with its variety of research approaches seems to be a rich and undoubtedly useful branch of economic science, also from the point of view of the studies on regional development. Moreover, it provides a wide range of application possibilities, so it has also a normative character, usable in the actual decision-making processes (regional policy issues). What is important, in many cases research on territorial development are already reaping the achievements of institutionalism, whereas in other cases more widespread use of it has to be discovered. This paper aims at the presentation of varius strands of institutional economics, wiht the emphasis on possible directions of regional research in the spirit of institutionalism.