IS INSTITUTIONALISM STILL A USEFUL CATEGORY?

Abstract

From the work of Veblen (1909) forward, a number of American economists found it useful to use the terms “institutions,” “institutional,” or “institutionalism” to describe the object of their study, the method of their study, or the school of thought to which they belonged. Acknowledging the centrality that these terms have in the work of these economists seems to me to be an essential part of my work as a historian concerned with providing historical reconstructions. That is, if I wish to provide an account of their work that these thinkers could at least in principle agree with, I will probably need to use the term institutionalism.

Citation

Emmett, R.B. (2004), "IS INSTITUTIONALISM STILL A USEFUL CATEGORY?", Samuels, W.J. (Ed.) A Research Annual (Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 22 Part 1), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 185-188. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0743-4154(03)22009-5