Cognition, Institutions, and Social Change: A Conversation with Chrysostomos Mantzavinos
| Autor | Chrysostomos Mantzavinos, Andrés Casas Casas |
| Cargo | National and Kapodestrian University of Athens (Greece) - Universidad EAFIT (Colombia) |
| Páginas | 219-226 |
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Cognition, Institutions, and Social Change:
A Conversation with Chrysostomos Mantzavinos
Chrysostomos Mantzavinos
National and Kapodestrian University of Athens (Greece)
Andrés Casas Casas
Universidad EAFIT (Colombia)
DOI: dx.doi.org/10.7440/colombiaint84.2015.08
In 2004, the winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in economics, Douglass North,
along with C. Mantzavinos and S. Shariq, published a ground-breaking article
in Perspectives on Politics: “Learning, Institutions, and Economic Performance.”
In the article, the authors coined the term cognitive institutionalism to refer to a
dynamic socio-analytic framework that relies on learning processes as the main
source of the emergence, persistence and change of institutional arrangements
(cultural norms and legal rules). For the authors, institutions frame and guide the
mental models, decisions and behaviors of social actors over time. What is more,
the cognitive foundations of these processes may explain their success or failure.
Back in 2001, Mantzavinos had already written an outstanding book
–Individuals, Institutions, and Markets – which explored the micro-foundations of
the relationship between behavior, institutions, and markets. e book became a
superb example of a successful account that led to an inter-disciplinary approach to
the issue of institutions, contributing to overcoming the aws of previous perspectives
on this area. Its analytical power draws on the advances made in the elds of evo-
lutionary biology, cognitive psychology, comparative politics, and political economy.
His analytical framework provides a fertile ground to connect a diverse
set of social science research agendas. In Colombia his work has encouraged rich
discussions about new ways to understand the logic of public policy and social
interventions aimed at building sustainable regional peace, state building, and
development eorts in the country.
In order to celebrate the 10th anniversary of “Learning, Institutions, and
Economic Performance” – and to encourage inter-disciplinary and inter-secto-
rial discussions of cognitive institutionalism as a framework for research and
policy design – Universidad EAFIT and Universidad Tecnológica del Bolívar
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