Institutional economics has been a major part of economic thought for the whole of the twentieth century, and today remains crucial to an understanding of the development of heterodox economics. The two principal publications that founded the school were Veblen's The Theory of the Leisure Class and Commons's A Sociological View of Sovereignty, both published in 1899.
As a tribute to these two seminal works, Warren Samuels has assembled an exceptionally prestigious international group of scholars to produce this landmark volume celebrating the centenary. The chapters assess the work of Veblen and Commons and their influence on the school of institutional economics from a variety of theoretical perspectives. The contributions on Veblen appraise his anthropological analysis of consumption habits of American households from sociological, linguistic and feminist points of view. Conversely, the essays on Commons's work focus on the concepts of property, power and the relationship between legality and economics.
Introduction PART I Veblen and Commons 1 Veblen, Commons, and the
Industrial Commission 2 Veblen and Commons and the concept of community PART
II Commons, A Sociological View of Sovereignty 3 An evolutionary theory of
the development of property and the state 4 Sovereignty and withholding in
John Commonss political economy 5 The identity and significance of Commonss
A Sociological View of Sovereignty 6 Commons, sovereignty, and the legal
basis of the economic system 7 John R.Commonss Political Economy and Law:
Harbinger of A Sociological View of Sovereignty and Legal Foundations of
Capitalism PART III Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class 8 Veblen and the
vanishing of the leisure class 9 The Theory of the Leisure Class and the
theory of demand 10 Veblens contribution to the instrumental theory of
normative value 11 Veblens Theory of the Leisure Class and the genesis of
evolutionary economics 12 Veblens feminism in historical perspective 13
Veblen and the anthropological perspective 14 The rhetoricality of Thorstein
Veblens economic theorizing: A critical reading of The Theory of the Leisure
Class 15 Georg Simmel and Thorstein Veblen on fashion fin de sičcle 16 A
neoinstitutional theory of social change in Veblens The Theory of the
Leisure Class
Warren J. Samuels is Professor of Economics at Michigan State University, specializing in the history of economic thought, methodology, and law and economics.
