ABSTRACT
Hypotheses based on an economic theory of institutional change and tested in the context of the Indian horse culture illustrate the diversity of rights, customs, and property rights found among North American Plains Indians. It is important to emphasize that individuals are the producers of institutional change, particularly in the context of American Indians. This is not to say that collective action was absent in Indian institutional change. As a consequence, conquest and discontinuous institutional change became more prevalent. Prior to the arrival of the horse from Europe, Plains Indian tribes lived relatively sedentary lives, gathering plants and hunting mostly smaller game. The horse proliferated northward from Mexico, passing from Indian tribe to tribe over a period from 1600 to 1740. Once the horse was introduced, the tepee became larger and its territory expanded. The optimal size of socioeconomic groups and seasonal economic patterns shifted dramatically with adaptation to the horse culture.
