The huge expansion of trade that started in 11th century Europe played a crucial role for the substantial economic development throughout the last millennium. To a large extent this development took place without traders’ support of governments or public legal systems. In such environments, what are the transactors’ incentives to honor deals, to respect property rights, or to support collective action? Economic governance is the structure of those legal and social institutions that mitigate or even solve these problems. The workshop “Institutions and Economic Governance” will give an overview of the field, offer a classification of the relevant institutions, and present key papers explaining the mechanics of (un)successful institutions.