Access
You are not currently logged in.
Access your personal account or get JSTOR access through your library or other institution:
If You Use a Screen Reader
This content is available through Read Online (Free) program, which relies on page scans. Since scans are not currently available to screen readers, please contact JSTOR User Support for access. We'll provide a PDF copy for your screen reader.
Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics
Paul Pierson
The American Political Science Review
Vol. 94, No. 2 (Jun., 2000), pp. 251-267
Published by: American Political Science Association
DOI: 10.2307/2586011
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2586011
Page Count: 17
- Item Type
- Article
- Thumbnails
- References
Since scans are not currently available to screen readers, please contact JSTOR User Support for access. We'll provide a PDF copy for your screen reader.
Abstract
It is increasingly common for social scientists to describe political processes as "path dependent." The concept, however, is often employed without careful elaboration. This article conceptualizes path dependence as a social process grounded in a dynamic of "increasing returns." Reviewing recent literature in economics and suggesting extensions to the world of politics, the article demonstrates that increasing returns processes are likely to be prevalent, and that good analytical foundations exist for exploring their, causes and consequences. The investigation of increasing returns can provide a more rigorous framework for developing some of the key claims of recent scholarship in historical institutionalism: Specific patterns of timing and sequence matter; a wide range of social outcomes may be possible; large consequences may result from relatively small or contingent events; particular courses of action, once introduced, can be almost impossible to reverse; and consequently, political development is punctuated by critical moments or junctures that shape the basic contours of social life.
Page Thumbnails
-
251
-
252
-
253
-
254
-
255
-
256
-
257
-
258
-
259
-
260
-
261
-
262
-
263
-
264
-
265
-
266
-
267
The American Political Science Review © 2000 American Political Science Association