Subjects
Classics in Institutional Economics, Part I: The Founders:
Key texts 1890–1945
Editors: Malcolm Rutherford and Warren J Samuels
978 1 85196 390 4: 234x156mm: £450.00/$795.00
Extensive selections from Thorstein Veblen and John Rogers Commons are provided along with the key contributions from other founders such as Richard T Ely, Wesley Clair Mitchell, Robert F Hoxie and Walton H Hamilton. The selections range in date from 1896 to 1957, with most of the material falling between 1898 and 1925. The collection includes those contributions that served to define the movement in its early years: Veblen's 'Why is Economics Not An Evolutionary Science?' (1898), Common's 'Sociological View of Sovereignty' (1899-1900), Hoxie's 'On the Empirical Method of Economic Instruction' (1901), Mitchell's 'The Rationality of Economic Activity' (1910), and Hamilton's 'The Institutional Approach to Economic Theory' (1918). The selections, however, go beyond these early contributions and allow the reader to chart the development of the various research programs established by the founders: Veblen on pecuniary institutions versus industrial requirements, Ely and Commons on collective action, law and economics, Hoxie on types of trade unionism, Mitchell on business cycles, and Hamilton on private property rights, price setting and regulation. This work shaped the subsequent history of the institutional movement.
In its beginnings institutionalism was a uniquely American phenomenon, an outcome of the particular confluence of intellectual and economic conditions that prevailed in the United States around the turn of the century. In the interwar period institutionalism rose to some considerable prominence in American economics, but subsequently declined in prestige. Despite this, the movement continued and the evolutionary and institutional perspective it contains has been subject to a recent revival of interest in both America and Europe. This facsimile collection provides an invaluable resource for the understanding of a part of American intellectual history and of the history of economics that is not only fascinating in its own right but also of contemporary relevance.
Contents
Volume 1
J M Clark: 'The Changing Basis of Economic Responsibility' (1916); 'Business Acceleration and the Law of Demand: A Technical Factor in Economic Cycles' (1917); 'Economics and Modern Psychology, I-II' (1918); 'Soundings in non-Euclidian Economics' (1921); 'Overhead Costs in Modern Industry, I-III' (1923); 'Conclusion to Studies in the Economics of Overhead Costs' (1923); 'The Relation Between Statics and Dynamics' (1927); 'Toward a Concept of Workable Competition' (1940); 'Realism and Relevance in the Theory of Demand' (1946); 'Mathematical Economists and Others: A Plea for Communicability' (1947); R L Hale: 'Law Making by Unofficial Minorities' (1920); 'The ‘Physical Value’ Fallacy in Rate Cases' (1921); 'Coercion and Distribution in a Supposedly Non-coercive State' (1923)
Volume 2
M A Copeland: 'Economic Theory and the Natural Science Point of View' (1931); 'Some Problems in the Theory of National Income' (1932); 'Institutional Economics and Model Analysis' (1951); Institutionalism and Welfare Economics (1958); G C Means: 'Industrial Prices and Their Relative Inflexibility' (1935); 'Price Inflexibility and the Requirements of a Stabilizing Monetary Policy' (1935); 'Notes on Inflexible Prices' (1936); 'Monetary Institutions to Serve the Modern Economy' (1967); 'The Corporate Revolution' (1962); F C Millls: 'Price Movements and Related Changes' (1929); S Perlman: 'Labor and Capitalism in America' (1928); 'Economic Opportunity and Group Psychology' (1928)
Volume 3
R G Tugwell: 'The Economic Basis for Business Regulation' (1921); 'Human Nature in Economic Theory' (1922); 'Human Nature and Social Economy, I-lI' (1930); 'The Theory of Occupational Obsolescence' (1931); 'The Principle of Planning and the Institution of Laissez-Faire' (1932); 'Government and Industry' (1933); E E Witte: 'Value of Injunctions in Labor Disputes' (1924); 'Old Age Security in the Social Security Act' (1937); 'What to Expect of Social Security' (1944); 'Role of the Unions in Contemporary Society' (1950); 'Institutional Economics as Seen by an Institutional Economist' (1954); 'Economics and Public Policy' (1957); A B Wolfe: 'Institutional Reasonableness and Value' (1936)
Volume 4
C E Ayres: 'Values: Ethical and Economic' (1934); 'Fifty Years’ Developments in Ideas of Human Nature and Motivation' (1936); 'The Co-ordinates of Institutionalism' (1951); 'The Knowing-and-Doing Process' (1961); 'Myths, Mores, Magic, and Status' (1961); 'The Industrial Way of Life' (1961); 'Ceremonial Patterns' (1962); 'Technology and Institutions' (1962); 'The Theory of Institutional Adjustment' (1967); J F Foster: 'The Theory of Institutional Adjustment' (1981); 'The Relation Between the Theory of Value and Economic Analysis' (1981); 'Effect of Technology on Institutions' (1981); W C Gordon: 'Capitalism and Technological Adaptation in Latin America' (1969); D Hamilton: 'Newtonianism and Darwinism in Economic Theory' (1970); H M Groves: 'Toward a Social Theory of Progressive Taxation' (1956); 'Institutional Economics and Public Finance' (1964); K Parsons:
'John R. Commons’ Point of View' (1942); 'Institutional Aspects of Agricultural Development Policy' (1966); S H. Slichter: 'The Changing Character of American Industrial Relations' (1939); 'The Responsibility of Organized Labor for Employment' (1945); 'The Social Control of Industrial Relations' (1949); G Colm: 'The Ideal Tax System' (1934) 'Why Public Finance?' (1936); 'The Theory of Public Expenditures' (1936); 'In Defense of the Public Interest' (1960)
Volume 5
J K Galbraith: 'The Theory of Social Balance' (1958); 'The Technostructure' (1971); 'The Revised Sequence' (1971); 'The Industrial System and the State' (1971); 'The Nature of Collective Intelligence' (1973); 'The Affirmative Purposes' (1973); 'The Emancipation of the State' (1973); J S Gambs: 'General Principles' (1946); A G Gruchy: 'Neoinstitutionalism and the Economics of Dissent' (1969); 'Government Intervention and the Social Control of Business: The Neoinstitutionalist Position' (1974); 'Planning in Contemporary Institutional Thought' (1982); H A Innis: 'Industrialism and Cultural Values' (1951); K W Kapp: 'Social Costs and Economic Science' (1950); 'The Nature and Significance of Social Costs' (1950); 'In Defense of Institutional Economics' (1968); G Myrdal: 'Introduction to An American Dilemma' (1944); 'American Ideals and the American Conscience' (1944); 'A Methodological Note on Valuations and Beliefs' (1944); 'A Methodological note on Facts and Valuations in Social Science' (1944); 'The Principle of Circular and Cumulative Causation' (1957); 'Political and Institutional Economics' (1978)