Radical Institutionalism

This collection of original essays makes a unique contribution to both the radical and institutionalist economics literature by explicitly identifying and promoting the radical dimension of institutional economics. According to the authors (Young Turks in the institutionalist school), radical institutionalism studies show how resources and wants are created through social processes and advance the struggle for a better world through an ongoing dialogue about economic rights. This collection contains a number of new and important contributions from young institutionalists, including the first serious treatment of the origins and contributions of the Texas School of institutionalism. It also contains thorough discussions of the research agenda for institutional economics and an extensive dialogue between institutionalism and Marxism.

The book opens with an explanation of the central concepts of radical institutionalism, a history of the seminal Texas School of Economics, and a discussion of the methodology of radical institutionalism. Other contributors critique institutionalism as a radical system of inquiry, extend institutionalism beyond its original American foundation, discuss the contemporary critical literature, and outline the usefulness of a continued dialogue between radical institutionalism and Marxism. This provocative collection will interest scholars of contemporary economic theory. It could also be used as a supplementary reader in courses on the history of economic thought and political economy.

WILLIAM M. DUGGER is Professor of Economics at DePaul University, Chicago. He is the author of An Alternative to Economic Retrenchment and numerous articles and reviews on institutionalism and corporate capitalism. He has served as the President of the Association for Institutional Thought and President of the Association for Social Economics.