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This article attempts to provide an institutionalist analysis and diagnosis of the current crisis of orthodox economics. We shall, first, characterise the predominant opinion in economics—the neoclassical synthesis. Next, we examine the anomalies which are currently vexing orthodox opinion and their power to provoke a period of crisis and extraordinary science. In the final section, we diagnose the source of the anomalies of the neoclassical synthesis.

It is suggested that the approach of the social economist to social problems, if followed, would lead to The Good Society, one in which the lot of our “human resources” would be considerably ameliorated. For the social economist the goal of the economy is not private profit nor is it improvement in the fertility of the soil nor capital accumulation for their own sakes and that of their owners, but the material, moral and spiritual well‐being of homo sapiens. The social economist is concerned with the efficiency of the capitalist system relative to the broad goals of society, rather than the maximisation of private property.

When E. F. Schumacher first wrote Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered, the initial reaction was mixed. For the first year or so, the book sold slowly. Then in 1974, the sales exploded. In a very short time, E. F. Schumacher became widely acclaimed as his book sold more than a million copies. On both sides of the Atlantic, the common person, as well as the scholar, realized that this was a new voice, a fresh and wholesome breath of wind that was blowing in the stodgy halls of economics.

Discusses the theories of Thorstein Veblen and C. Wright Mills on status emulation and craftsmanship. Applies these theories to the business situataion, especially public administration. Concludes that, if contamination by emulatory values and behaviours can be limited, the ideal of authentic public administration emphasizing organizational humanism and craftsmanship is still possible.

This paper seeks to evaluate how some of the core general principles of heterodox political economy (HPE) can be applied to the issue of how HPE has managed to undergo resurgence and development over recent decades.

Four major principles of heterodoxy are applied successively to this issue: historical specificity; contradiction; heterogeneous agents and groups; and circular and cumulative causation.

These principles assist in comprehending how HPE is able to develop its own concepts, networks, publications, academic departments, teaching and policy‐relevant material.

HPE has had considerable success in developing a conceptual apparatus, which helps to explain the emergence of much of its edifice being developed in academic and policy circles. The performance of HPE has been impressive.

The conceptual apparatus of heterodoxy can be applied to real world situations; specifically a component of world history over especially the past 40 years.

This is the first time such a theme has been explored in the literature.

This article gives a centenary appreciation of the contributions to economic thought of Joseph A. Schumpeter, with special focus on his work, The Theory of Economic Development (TED). It proceeds, first, by providing an overview of Schumpeter's life and works; secondly, by giving an interpretative exposition of the main themes of TED, and, thirdly, Schumpeter's broader “economic sociology” in terms of the place of these ideas in the history of economic thought; fourthly, by examining the reception to TED and the impact of it and Schumpeter's dynamic methodology on the discipline.

Justice has, of late, re‐emerged as an important area of professional concern for all economists. However, in that justice is a fundamentally normative, value‐laden concept it proves troublesome to those who aspire to the strictures of “positive science”. This puts social economists in a position of distinct advantage in the consideration of justice issues for they are avowedly normative in their approach. The intention in this essay, implicit in the title, is to make some contribution to the explicit articulation of the justice criteria ensconced in the instrumentalist theory of value, and to suggest the affinity of this view with social economics.