Abstract：

North's New Institutionalist Theory emphasizes historical analysis and explains the reasons of the rise of the western world by institutional change.His theoretical legacy consists of three components:property rights theory,state-government theory,and cognition-belief theory.Based on these theories,the new school of institutional analysis has continuously put forward new ideas and theoretical propositions.Especially since 2012,some new developments have become self-contained and created a wide academic impact.They have inherited North's legacy,but at the same time have continued to criticize and question it.Innovating and reinvention are the common features of these developments.Daron Acemoglu and others analyzed the models of the institutional choices in the globe economic history,not only claiming that political institutions are the foundations of economic institutions,but also insisting that history is not predetermined but rather changes according to the situation.Joel Mokyr pointed out the deficiency of technological elements in North'theory,explaining innovations in culture and technology by the evolution of beliefs and institutions,and considering“a culture of growth”as the key cause of the rise of the West.Geoffrey M.Hodgson rejected North and other's theory of property and his idea concerning the Glorious Revolution,and made a theoretical rebuilding to institutions and property,considering the rights of mortgaged property and the legal safeguards for financial transactions as the reasons for the Britain leading of the Industrial Revolution.

Keyword：modern world; the Industrial Revolution; Douglass North; New Institutionalist Theory; criticism; theoretical pioneering;

Published on Journal of Suzhou University of Science and Technology(Social Science Edition),Issue 6, 2023.