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The new institutionalism in sociology is part of an emerging paradigm in the social sciences. Interest in the new institutional paradigm is being driven by advances in interdisciplinary research directed at understanding and explaining institutions. In economics, this has involved rejection of the neoclassical assumption of efficiency in transactions that purportedly are costless and based on complete information. In political science, intellectual trade with economics has given rise to the field of positive political economy, which is extending the paradigm to the analysis of political institutions and the politics of markets. There this paradigm has established itself as the most influential, but political science has had a long history of being the “beneficiary as well as the victim of many intellectual currents from other disciplines”(Ordeshook 1990, 9). Although sociology has been less responsive than political science, this is quickly changing. Just as central themes in classical sociology have influenced the new institutionalists in economics (North 1981), this branch of economics has led sociologists to examine economic phenomena anew. The new institutional economics has contributed to stimulating research on social institutions and economic action (Granovetter 1985; Hamilton and Biggart 1988; Friedman and Hechter 1988; Weakliem 1989; Campbell and Lindberg 1990; Cook and Levi 1990; England and Kilbourne 1990; Fligstein 1996; DiMaggio and Powell 1991; Friedland and Alford 1991; Lindenberg 1992; Brinton 1992; Ensminger 1992; Petersen 1993; Hopcroft 1994; Nee and Lian 1994; Smelser and Swedberg 1994; Zelizer 1994; Evans 1995 …