Robert Fritzsch provides an institutional economic analysis of the Great Recession. The author shows that institutions matter as determinants of crisis resilience - however in a different way than predicted by the prominent theories of Olson (1982) and North, Wallis, Weingast (2009), as the crisis was most severe in developed countries with democratic political institutions, rule of law and restrained regulations. The empirical results support theoretical predictions only within the sub-group of developed countries, where rule of law and restrained regulations show a positive association with crisis resilience. Contents Political Institutions, Interest Group Activity and Crisis Resilience Economic Institutions and Crisis Resilience Target Groups Scholars and students of economics, political science, and sociology Politicians, public employees About the Author Robert Fritzsch is research associate at the chair of institutional economics and economic policy at the University of Erfurt. . |