This edited volume explores the concept of institutional inertia and its relationship to economic growth and development. Including insights from experts across disciplines, chapters identify the types, causes and effectsboth positive and negativeof institutional inertia. By questioning the types of institutional inertia that improve economic performance and impact the effectiveness of the state, as well as studying their role in the dynamics of institutional change, the volume attempts to trace and understand the different evolutionary paths of societies. Bridging important research gaps, this volume will be of use to students, researchers, and practitioners of institutional and evolutionary economics, development economics, management, and organizational theory.

Nezameddin Faghih is an UNESCO Chair Professor Emeritus, and the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research (Springer). He has published more than 50 books and 100 fully refereed research articles, and presented more than 120 invited talks in academia, industry, and professional meetings. 

Ali Hussein Samadi is a Professor at the University of Shiraz, Iran. He has a Ph.D. in public sector economics. He specializes in institutional economics and econometrics. His research focuses on institutional economics, law and economics, property rights, system dynamics modeling, econophysics, and complex networks. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Iranian Journal of Economic Studies (IJES).

I. Concepts, Types, Causes, and Effects.- Inertia: resistance and endurance.- An Introduction to Institutional Inertia: Concept, Types and Causes.- The Origin of Development, Critical Juncture, and Institutional Inertia.- Context, Institutional Inertia and Development.- Inertia in Informal Institutions: Concepts, and Effects.-  II. Cognitive Inertia.- The Roots of Cognitive Inertia: An Introduction to Institutional Changes.- Cognitive Inertia as a Fundamental Cause of Institutional Inertia.- III.  Organizational Inertia.- Overview of InstitutionalOrganization Inertia Nexus.- Internal Empowerment Dynamics of Organizational Inertia Management.- IV. Trade, Energy and Environments.- Trade and Institutional Inertia.- The Transition to Sustainable.- Energy and Institutional Inertia.- Legitimacy, Institutional Inertia, and Climate Change.- V.  Innovation and Entrepreneurship.- Early Entrepreneurship Entry and Institutional Rigidities in Emerging Market Economies: Evidence from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.- Inertia, Innovation Failures, And Learning from Innovation Failures: Some Insights from MSEs in an Emerging Market Economy