Teoria e retórica em Douglass North: subsídios para uma análise de sua contribuição

This paper analyses the work and rhetoric of Douglass North. After discussing his main proposals for the economics of institutions -1973, 1981, 1990- we investigate the author's speech. It is shown that his conciliatory strategy with neoclassical economics plays a crucial role on the acceptance ofhis ideas. After a brief analysis of the origins of his proposals, we conc1ude stressing the importance of his rhetoric.