Introduction

Different versions of the theory have been proposed and applied to a wide range of economic and social phenomena. Research focused on developing dynamic theories of institutions is critical to understanding why and how institutions arise in the first place. The chapters that follow attempt to combine social structural elements with individual action and, as such, provide one type of solution to one of the most frequently mentioned problems in sociological discourse-the micro/macro problem. Since these chapters consider institutions as bearing some of the aspects of public goods (termed control capacity by Hechter, and heroic and instrumental sanctioning by Coleman), each author must explain how rational individuals would ever provide themselves with such goods in the face of the free-rider problem. Karl-Dieter Opp’s paper deals with the conditions leading to decreased compliance to already-extant customs.