Understanding Masahiko Aoki’s comparative institutional analysis
剖析青木昌彦比较制度分析的方法论与制度概念，强调其超越市场中心模型、关注企业政府社会相互依赖的特点，并比较了科斯、诺斯和威廉姆森的理论，适合研究制度多样性与演化的学者判断是否阅读原文。
Abstract This paper examines the core features of Masahiko Aoki’s comparative institutional analysis (CIA), focusing on its methodology and institutional conceptualization. Aoki’s CIA integrates institutional and policy theory with comparative and historical analysis to explain institutional diversity and co-evolution. Departing from market-centric models, it emphasizes interdependencies among corporations, government, and society, as well as the roles of public representations and shared beliefs. Drawing on Aoki’s English and Japanese works, the paper situates CIA within his intellectual history and offers a preliminary comparison with the institutional theories of Ronald Coase, Douglass North, and Oliver Williamson. It also outlines five areas for future research, including the landscape of institutional economics, firm and corporate institutions, tech monopolies, Japan’s institutional transition and dynamic capabilities, and the co-evolution of human nature and institutions. Nearly a decade after Aoki’s passing, the paper argues that CIA remains essential for advancing institutional economics in today’s complex global landscape.