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Topic · Economics and Econometrics

Economic Theory and Institutions

Economic Theory and Institutions is a research topic within Economics and Econometrics. Science Explorer counts 32k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the study of economic institutions, behavior, and evolution, encompassing topics such as institutional economics, evolutionary economics, behavioral economics, market evolution, property rights, macroeconomics, social evolution, neoliberalism, and Darwinism in economics.

  • Institutional Economics
  • Economic Institutions
  • Evolutionary Economics
  • Behavioral Economics
  • Market Evolution
  • Property Rights
  • Macroeconomics
  • Social Evolution
  • Neoliberalism
  • Darwinism in Economics
Research works
32k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-15%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
39% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Economic Theory and Institutions

Which countries lead Economic Theory and Institutions research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (973 and 322 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 973 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 322 works
  3. 3 France 266 works
  4. 4 Germany 231 works
  5. 5 Italy 207 works
  6. 6 China 108 works
  7. 7 Russia 101 works
  8. 8 Brazil 87 works
  9. 9 Australia 86 works
  10. 10 Canada 85 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 39.5%United Kingdom: 13.1%France: 10.8%Germany: 9.4%6 others listed: 27.3%39%largest
United States973 · 39.5%United Kingdom322 · 13.1%France266 · 10.8%Germany231 · 9.4%6 others listed674 · 27.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Economic Theory and Institutions research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Economic Theory and Institutions research, followed by George Mason University and Sapienza University of Rome.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 78 works
  2. 2 George Mason UniversityUnited States 57 works
  3. 3 Sapienza University of RomeItaly 30 works
  4. 4 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 21 works
  5. 5 Rutgers, The State University of New JerseyUnited States 20 works
  6. 6 University of TurinItaly 20 works
  7. 7 London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 19 works
  8. 8 New York UniversityUnited States 18 works
  9. 9 King's College LondonUnited Kingdom 18 works
  10. 10 University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 18 works

Who are the leading researchers in Economic Theory and Institutions?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Economic Theory and Institutions include Daniel J. Kahneman, Pierre Bourdıeu and Eugene F. Fama.

  1. 1 Daniel J. Kahneman United States 395k citations
  2. 2 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  3. 3 Eugene F. Fama United States 262k citations
  4. 4 Andrei Shleifer United States 234k citations
  5. 5 Michael C. Jensen United States 203k citations
  6. 6 Herbert A. Simon United States 179k citations
  7. 7 Daniel J Kim United States 171k citations
  8. 8 Jacob Cohen Israel 170k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Economic Theory and Institutions?

The most cited paper in Economic Theory and Institutions is "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth" (Robert M. Solow, 1956), with 24,386 citations. Next come "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning" (21,902) and "The Economic Institutions of Capitalism" (14,958).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth Robert M. Solow · The Quarterly Journal of Economics Feb 1956 24,386
2 Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning James G. March · Organization Science Feb 1991 21,902
3 The Economic Institutions of Capitalism William M. Dugger · Journal of Economic Issues Mar 1987 14,958
4 A Theory of the Allocation of Time Gary S. Becker · The Economic Journal Sep 1965 10,360
5 Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics Paul Pierson · American Political Science Review Open access Jun 2000 7,960
All 98 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Economic Theory and Institutions research done?

The largest centres of Economic Theory and Institutions research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Paris (France), New York (United States) and Fairfax (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Fairfax.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 106 works
  2. 2 ParisFrance 95 works
  3. 3 New YorkUnited States 62 works
  4. 4 FairfaxUnited States 57 works
  5. 5 RomeItaly 57 works
  6. 6 Washington D.C.United States 49 works
  7. 7 MoscowRussia 49 works
  8. 8 TokyoJapan 31 works
  9. 9 MadridSpain 30 works
  10. 10 BeijingChina 29 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. FairfaxUS · 57.3 works44×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Economic Theory and Institutions than the world average.

See Economic Theory and Institutions on the map

Where is the best place to study Economic Theory and Institutions?

Among universities, judged by research, University College London, University of Helsinki and Roskilde University score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 21.24%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Roskilde UniversityUniversity College L…University of HelsinkiGeorge Mason Univers…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University College LondonUnited Kingdom 62.629.4%2.5×12 +32.9%
2University of HelsinkiFinland 61.421.1%5.5×11 +22.7%
3Roskilde UniversityDenmark 60.733.2%29.8×10 +38.0%
4George Mason UniversityUnited States 56.910.5%61.5×57 -34.5%
5University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 54.127.1%3.9×16 -58.7%
6King's College LondonUnited Kingdom 53.817.9%7.3×18 -0.3%
7Goldsmiths University of LondonUnited Kingdom 53.828.6%48.0×8 -15.9%
8Roma Tre UniversityItaly 51.215.2%29.9×15 +164.9%
9Princeton UniversityUnited States 50.120.5%6.2×8 +33.2%
10Sapienza University of RomeItaly 49.78.9%8.8×30 +30.5%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Economic Theory and Institutions, country by country

Is Economic Theory and Institutions research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 15% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2018.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Economic Theory and Institutions as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.015% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Economic Theory and Institutions0.013% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Economic Theory and Institutions over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Economic Theory and Institutions10.3% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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