"Gisela Kubon Gilke's interesting book can be read at three levels. Her specific aim is as indicated in the title - to provide a convincing and more fundamental basis for a better understanding of the emergence and effectiveness of 'self binding' behavioural constraints which may run counter to opportunities for achieving personal advantages, and an indication of how this influences the emergence, the nature, and the persistence of viable institutions. This basic undertaking is embedded in a wider, critical and informative review of modern institutional theories in two lengthy chapters (chs. 2 and 3) covering more than half of the book (270 pages) which can be read by themselves as a useful survey of modern institutional theory (influenced by the special perspective of the book). And thirdly, there is a special self contained chapter (ch. 4) of 84 pages which gives a short, but instructive introduction to the ideas of gestalt theory which provides the psychological basis for the proposed reform of institutional theory. This is then illustrated in the rest of the book (chs. 5 and 6).

In conclusion let me say that I regard Kubon Gilke's book as a valuable and interesting addition to the proliferating literature an institutional economics. She writes in a clear style with technicalities reduced to a necessary minimum so that the book is extremely readable. Her coverage of the literature is very wide. The economic and psychological sources contained in a reference list of 28 pages are well interwoven into the text. Her stress an the need to pay more attention to psychological elements and the path- and context-dependence of institutional and behavioural development deserves - in my opinion - full support even if one does not necessarily share her enthusiasm for the gestalt theoretical foundation. Other approaches can lead to similar conclusions. One serious criticism remains: the lack of an index (persons and subjects) in a book like this is hardly excusable."