Veblen’s “Instinct of Workmanship,” Its Cognitive Foundations, and Some Implications for Economic Theory Cordes, Christian Chief among those instinctive dispositions that conduce directly to the material well-being of the race, and therefore to its biological success, is perhaps the instinctive bias here spoken of as the sense of workmanship. -Veblen In the early twentieth century, […]
Category: Journal of Economic Issues
“Pragmatisms (Plural) Part I: Classical Pragmatism and Some Implications for Empirical Inquiry” Webb, James L The institutional economics originating in America with Thorstein Veblen generally claims pragmatism as its philosophical basis, especially the classical pragmatism1 of Dewey and Peirce. However, pragmatism is said to undercut the search for truth in the philosophy of science. Pragmatism […]
Sweden’s Economic Recovery and the Theory of Comparative Institutional Advantage Schneider, Geoffrey E Think of a bumblebee. With its overly heavy body and little wings, supposedly it should not be able to fly – but it does. . . . This is how socalled analysts view the Swedish economy. We ‘defy gravity.’ We have high […]
Globalization and the poorest of the poor: global integration and the development process in Sub-Saharan Africa Geoffrey E. Schneider Most recent studies of globalization describe the experiences of developed countries, and studies focusing on developing countries usually ignore sub-Saharan Africa. Yet Africa’s experiences with globalization are unique. While the World Bank and the International Monetary […]
Institutional economics, instrumentalist political theory, and the American tradition of empirical collectivism Tilman, Rick The political counterpart of institutional economics is, no doubt, the instrumentalist political theory of John Dewey, and the recent literature on him is huge.’ Indeed, the influence of Dewey and his followers’ thought on institutional economists is undeniable. Yet important aspects […]
Strategic bankruptcy and private pension default Orr, Douglas V A rapidly growing literature focuses on potential problems for both private pension plans and the Social Security system. Almost all of the literature addressing private sector pensions assumes that the firm promising to pay the pension has the desire to fulfill this promise and provides suggestions […]
Short Supply of Tall People: Competitive Imbalance and the National Basketball Association, The Berri, David J In recent years a wealth of literature has been offered examining the economics of professional team sports. Much of this work follows in the neoclassical tradition, employing the standard assumptions and focusing primarily on the impact of individual decision […]
Bounded rationality, institutions, and uncertainty Dequech, David The notion of bounded rationality, originally developed by Herbert Simon, has occupied an important place in many discussions about an alternative to neoclassical economics. Some of these discussions take place within the so-called “old” (or “original”) and “new” institutionalisms. In other cases, a connection between bounded rationality and […]
In defense of a tax on foreign exchange Prasch, Robert E This past fall has been a most interesting period in the history of the world’s financial markets. Several East Asian countries, so recently celebrated as models of orthodox economic development strategies, suddenly foundered under the pressure of dramatic capital outflows. Following a time-honored script, […]
A dual-stage view of the consumer goods economy Steiner, Robert L Over the course of many years as a manufacturer in a number of consumer goods industries I became increasingly aware of certain disconnections between what I and countless other business people had observed and the predictions of the conventional, neoclassical economics I had learned […]