This Work Continues, But Mostly Elsewhere

Some viewers may have noticed a slowdown in the frequency of my posts on this Wealth In Institutions thesis. I explain:

• I have shifted my attention for the most part to another project which arguably encompasses this Wealth In Institutions thesis. That project, which I call the Resource Patterns Model of Life, shows how groups of agents can grow wealthy as they learn to conform their behavior to the constraints of the larger environment. They grow wealthy, that is, as they discover institutions. I am developing this post-by-post on another Blogspot site named Perceived Order.
• The Wealth In Institutions thesis is hard. Or, let me say that I may be unable to find much direct support. I have read quite a lot in search for compatible, supporting research (see the bibliography) but have come up almost empty handed. It could be this science is still in its infancy, in the stage of development where nouns and verbs are still hazy and ill defined, where it is difficult to get more specific than the telling of anecdotes.

Nonetheless let me report one find. The following sentence comes from Vernon Smith, Rationality in Economics (2008), p. 57.

As I have noted, David Hume (and Adam Smith) used reason to understand and interpret the intelligence captured in the emergent orders of economy, law, and society.

I pick my words out of that sentence, "intelligence captured in orders of economy, law, and society", and claim that Smith, Hume, and Smith are referring to institutions. And they are interested because of the wealth contained therein.