Douglass C. North, a Nobel laureate whose work in applying economic theory to history offered a new understanding of how societies coordinate people’s behavior, died on Monday at his home in Benzonia, Mich. He was 95.

The cause was esophageal cancer, his niece Julie Case said.

The son of a high school dropout, Professor North traced an unlikely path to academic renown and the halls of government in China, Latin America, Eastern Europe and elsewhere, where he was a sought-after consultant.

In academia, where his teaching career spanned seven decades, and in his many books and articles as an economics historian, he became known for challenging traditional methods of economic analysis, in which markets hold sway, finding that they often fell short of explaining long-term economic growth.

In casting his net wider, he took into account, among other things, the economic impact of social and political institutions, of laws and customs regarding property rights, and of religious beliefs and human cognition.