(1) The historical school and the institutional school came into being in different times. The historical school came into being at the beginning of19th century, and the institutional school came into being at the end of19th century and the beginning of 20th century.
(2) The historical school and the institutional school originated in different places. The historical school originated in Germany and the institutional school originated in the United States.
(3) Historical school and institutional school have different characteristics. The historical school is characterized by state intervention and opposes economic liberalism, and its theoretical nature is political economy. Institutional school is characterized by economic liberalism, and its theoretical nature is market economics.
(4) The historical school and the institutional school hold different opinions. The historical school denies the universal significance of economic laws, and advocates that when a nation lags behind, it must not be unwilling to lag behind, and protect its own industry and fight against powerful forces through the "visible hand", that is, the power of the state. Its core is to rely on state intervention to protect the economy. Institutional school recognizes the universal significance of economic laws and advocates that economic regulation should mainly rely on "invisible hand", that is, market regulation. Only when the market fails can the state regulate the economy.