Abstract

The article analyses the main postulates of the evolution – institutional theory, that has emerged in 1980s as a unity of the third stage of the development of the "old" institutionalism and the evolution economic theory. The main achievements of three representatives of this trend are presented: Jeffrey Hodgson, England, Ernesto Screpanti, Italy, and Lars Magnusson, Sweden. Despite the difficulties, encountered by the evolution-institutional approach, it is not considered a perspective economic tendency. It might be applied for detailed analyses of the problems resulting from the global economic crisis and the transformation processes in Europe.