Note: This is post #84 in a weekly video series on basic economics.

What spurs the growth of new ideas? The vital factor is institutions, which serve as the soil where ideas are planted, says Alex Tabarrok in this video by Marginal Revolution University.

While it may seem like ideas grow at random, the truth is you need a set of key ingredients, say Tabarook, or what we call “institutions.”

(If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d mend watching them at 1.5 to 2 times the speed. You can adjust the speed at which the video plays by clicking on “Settings” (the gear symbol) and changing “Speed” from normal to 1.25, 1.5 or 2.)

Clickhereto see other videos in the Introduction to Economics series.