Institutions economic performance and the visible hand : theory and evidence The book challenges the conventional wisdom on the determinants of economic performance and provides an alternative vision of the functioning of an economic system. The author provides a structured survey which critically evaluates the theory and evidence of neoclassical approaches to growth and development. He then skillfully integrates insights from the old and new institutional economics into an original and comprehensive vision of the relationship between institutions growth and economic development 1. Introduction 2. The neoclassical model and its critique 3. The old and new institutional economics 4. Development strategies and performance : an overview 5. Institutions and governance : the new empirical evidence 6. Institutions in economic history 7. Discontinuous institutional change 8. Southern Sudan : a case study in discontinuous institutional change 9. Markets and institutions 10. Mechanisms of institutional transition