Front Cover 1
The New Institutional Economics and Development: Theory and Applications to Tunisia 4
Copyright Page 5
Table of Contents 11
Introduction to the Series 6
Preface 8
List of Contributors 10
List of Figures 14
List of Tables 15
PART ONE: THE NEW INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS: ISSUES AND APPLICATIONS 18
Chapter 1. THE NEW INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: AN INTRODUCTION 20
Objectives and Scope of the Study 22
Defining Institutions 24
Themes in the NIE 26
Transaction and Information Costs 28
Collective Action 31
Complementarities between Transaction and Information Costs and Collective Action 34
The NIE and Development 36
Organization of the Volume and its Case Studies 42
References 44
Chapter 2. TRANSACTION COST ECONOMICS AND CONTRACTUAL CHOICE: THEORY AND EVIDENCE 51
I. The Origins and Consequences of Contracting and the Roles of Risk, Culture, Ethnicity, and Transaction Costs 52
II. Criticisms of the Theory of Transaction Costs 57
III. Alternative Forms of Contract and Opportunistic Behavior 59
IV. The Relevance of Transaction Costs to Institutional Change 66
V. The Incidence of Different Contracts: A Review of the Evidence 72
VI. Concluding Comments 86
References 88
Chapter 3. COLLECTIVE ACTION, INSTITUTIONS AND DEVELOPMENT 97
I. Introduction 97
II. Cooperation and Free-riding 103
III. The Emergence of Interest Groups and Organizations 108
IV. Interest Groups and the State 116
V. Common Property Resources and Collective Action 126
VI. Collective Action, Institutional Change and Development 129
VII. Taking Stock: Where to Go from Here? 142
References 144
PART TWO: TUNISIAN CASE STUDIES APPLYING THE THEORY OF TRANSACTION COSTS 155
Chapter 4. THE SWITCH TO SHARECROPPING IN MEDJEZ-EL-BAB 157
I. Introduction 157
II. Agricultural and Socioeconomic Conditions in Medjez-el-bab and Data Collection Procedures 158
III. Explanations of the Respondents for their Switch to Share Contracts 162
IV. Analysis of Data 168
References 174
Chapter 5. CONTRACTUAL CHOICE IN TUNISIAN FISHING 175
I. The Forms of Contract in Different Segments of the Industry 178
II. The Share System and of the Determinants of the Shares 179
III. Variations in Contractual Form and Other Contract Characteristics 184
IV. Other Considerations and Conclusions 191
References 193
Chapter 6. TAX FARMING: ANACHRONISM OR OPTIMAL CONTRACT? (An Illustration with Respect to Tunisia's Weekly Markets) 195
I. Some Historical Experience 196
II. Tax Farming in Tunisia 201
III. Explaining Variations in the Incidence of Tax Farming over Time and Space 207
IV. Conclusions and Implications for the Future of Tax Farming 212
References 214
Chapter 7. THE SIZE DISTRIBUTION AND OWNERSHIP TYPE OF FIRMS IN TUNISIAN MANUFACTURING 217
I. Introduction: Technology, Market Size and Transaction Costs as Determinants of Firm Size and Ownership Type 217
II. The Ownership and Size Distribution of Tunisian Firms 221
III. The Institutional and Economic Environment for Size and Organizational Form Choices of Tunisian Industrial Enterprises 229
IV. Transaction Costs in Ownership Type and Size Choices: Hypothesis Generation 235
V. Results and Conclusions 243
References 247
PART THREE: TUNISIAN CASE STUDIES APPLYING THE THEORY OF COLLECTIVE ACTION 250
Chapter 8. THE CRAFT GUILDS OF TUNIS AND THEIR AMINS: A STUDY IN INSTITUTIONAL ATROPHY 253
I. Introduction 253
II. The Guilds and the State 255
III. The Amins in the Golden Age of the Guilds 259
IV. The Decline of the Guilds 267
V. The Twilight of the Amins 273
VI. Conclusions 276
References 279
Chapter 9. EDUCATIONAL CHANGE AND THE ULAMA IN THE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURIES 282
I. Introduction 282
II. The Educational System and the Ulama in the Early 19th Century 284
III. The Old Equilibrium 289
IV. New Pressures, Challenges and the Demand for Institutional Change 291
V. The Ulama, Resistance to Change and the Fossilization of the Educational Institutions 295
VI. Conclusions 303
References 304
Chapter 10. COLLECTIVE ACTION IN TUNISIA'S PRODUCER ORGANIZATIONS: SOME VARIATIONS ON THE OLSONIAN THEME 306
I. Introduction 306
II. The Relative Weakness of Producer Organizations in North Africa and the Middle East 307
III. The Origin and Evolution of Tunisia's Producer Organizations 309
IV. Variations in the Relative Strength of Tunisian Producer Interest Groups and their Explanation 314
V. Differing Approaches to Common Problems of Producer Organizations: A Comparative Analysis 323
V. Concluding Remarks 334
References 336
Chapter 11. COLLECTIVE ACTION AND GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE IN TUNISIA'S LABOR ORGANIZATION 340
I. Introduction 340
II. Tunisia's Labor Organization: The UGTT 343
III. The Dynamic Evolution of Tunisia's Labor Relations: Interactions Between Hierarchical Structure and Collective Action 352
V. Conclusions 365
References 366
Chapter 12. THE WHOLESALE PRODUCE MARKET OF TUNIS AND ITS PORTERS: A TALE OF MARKET DEGENERATION 369
I· Introduction 369
II. The Way It Was 371
III. What It Became 374
IV. COOPMAG's Internal Affairs 377
V. Distributional and Efficiency Implications 381
VI. Opposition to COOPMAG 387
VII. Concluding Remarks 390
References 390
Chapter 13. THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INTEREST RATE DETERMINATION IN TUNISIA 392
I. The Rationale for Below-equilibrium Interest Rates 393
II. Tunisian Interest Groups and their Relative Influence Under Repressed Inflation (1960-1973) 397
II.. Inflationary Pressures and Inertia in Interest Rate Adjustments (1974-1985) 406
IV. The Rationale for the Interest Rate Reforms of April, 1985 and January, 1987 415
V. Conclusion 418
References 418
Chapter 14. AN INTEREST GROUP ANALYSIS OF TUNISIA'S STATE ENTERPRISES 421
I. Background 422
II. Interest Group Conflicts and the Evolution of State Enterprises 425
III. Effects of Interest Group Competition on the Performance of State Enterprises 433
IV. Conclusions 442
References 443
PART FOUR: CONCLUDING PERSPECTIVES 445
Chapter 15. A NEW PARADIGM FOR THE STUDY OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 446
I. Old Institutionalism and New 446
II. A New Paradigm for Development Economics? 448
III. Applications of the NIE Extend far beyond Tunisia 449
IV. Loose Ends in the New Institutional Economics 452
V. Theories of Development: Complements, Supplements, Substitutes 453
References 454
Chapter 16. THE NEW INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS AND DEVELOPMENT: CONCLUDING REMARKS 455
I. The Economics of Transaction and Information Costs 455
II. The Theory of Collective Action 459
III. Interactions among the Two Approaches, Common Shortcomings and Future Research Needs 463
References 465
INDEX 466