Social norms and economic welfare
综述了社会规范如何通过定义财产、合同条款和社会角色来塑造经济生活，并论证规范可从分散互动中演化，影响效率与分配公平。
A norm is an established and self-reinforcing pattern of behaviour: everyone wants to play their part given the expectation that everyone else will continue to play theirs. It is, in short, an equilibrium of a game. This paper surveys some of the ways in which norms structure economic life: in the definition (and division) of property, in the terms of contracts, and in the assignment of social roles. We argue that norms can evolve from the cumulative effect of many decentralized interactions by individuals who are trying to solve a coordination problem. The theory suggests circumstances under which evolutionary forces favor norms that are efficient and more or less egalitarian in their distributive implications.