What even is an institution?

https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2022/12/30/institutions.html

Not sure I have amazing new insights, other than that this is a complicated muddle, but sometimes recognizing the muddle is the first step to stepping out of it!

I see institutions as mission-based communities. Sometimes the mission is profit, but it can be anything really. A hot dog stand can be an institution! Sole individual might be the "lengthened shadow" at first, but long-term institutions (like communities) are aggregate of relationships formed around/within them.