The future of pluralistic institutional theory

The article criticizes the stereotypes about the current state of institutional economics and the logic of its development. These stereotypes are based on underestimating the growth of its internal diversity, blurring the methodological boundaries of new and original institutional economics (NIE and OIE), the emergence of numerous alternative institutionalisms. The history of OIE and NIE shows that their competition has been replaced by methodological exchange, and research programs are becoming more heterogeneous and eclectic. Alternative institutionalisms — interdisciplinary movements focused on new trends in the analysis of institutions — are of growing importance. The paper proposes to move from the narrative about the struggle between NIE and OIE to rethinking institutional economics as a continuum of co-evolving and complementary schools and approaches. The article makes the case for creating an institutional theory based on epistemological pluralism, a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, and the transition to postdisciplinarity. A pluralistic paradigm can be an adequate response to the challenge of increasing institutional complexity in modern economies.