Economic Performance:A Comparative Study of the Ideas of North and Weber

So far various theories have been proposed in a try to explain the influential factors on development as well as the reasons of difference among the levels of development in countries. This article tries to use comparative analysis to study Max Weber’s ideas (as a distinguished sociologist of German Historical School) and those of Douglas North (as an institutional economist). This study indicates that in addition to German Historical School’s effect on the formation of institutional economics paradigm، there are outstanding similarities and differences between the ideas of Weber and North. The findings indicate that North has used Weber’s explanation regarding the effects of factors such as culture، values and beliefs on the economic performance. Meanwhile، North uses the concept of institution to better explain how these factors influence the economic performance. On the other hand، the institutional approach، which has recently been the focus of attention، seemingly provides a proper approach to include social variables in economic issues.