Institutional economics

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The Institutional Economics (English: institutional economics ) is an economics approach , which was developed in the late 19th century in the US and the interactions between industry and the institutions analyzed the company. The New Institutional Economics , which has emerged recently, must be distinguished from this.

origin

Institutional economics was understood as a non-Marxist critique of the prevailing economic theory and as the “conscience of the economists' guild”. It is considered to be the only original economic theory originating in the United States of America. Thorstein Bunde Veblen , John Rogers Commons and Wesley Clair Mitchell are considered to be the founders . Veblen like Commons were students of Richard T. Ely , who in turn was influenced by the German Historical School . Other influences besides Hegel and Marx are the evolution theory of Charles Darwin and pragmatism ( Charles Sanders Peirce , William James , John Dewey ). Veblen has also incorporated many ideas from cultural anthropology .

influence

Until about 1939 , institutional economics exerted a prominent influence within United States economics. For example, Commons and many of his students helped design and implement government programs at the federal and state levels. Mitchell, who was a student of both Veblen and Dewey, was a pioneer in the National Bureau of Economic Research on business cycles . During the Great Depression Mitchell and others, a system of indicative planning have developed their practical implementation in the absence of relevant data from a though national accounts had to fail.

The Association for Evolutionary Economics (AFEE) was founded in 1966 and the Journal of Economic Issues was published in 1967 as a scientific journal . After the latter magazine was open to any kind of criticism of mainstream economic thinking, a hard core of institutionalists has become independent in the special group of the Association for Institutional Thought (AFIT). In order to peel out the hard theoretical core of this direction, works appeared that sought to formulate its fundamental theses. A new journal, the Journal of Institutional Economics (JOIE), was also created.

The fundamental differences relate in particular to the explanatory model used and the theory of action . In contrast to the deductive-theoretical ( covering law ) model, an explanatory principle is preferred that fits individual facts into an established pattern like a puzzle . In action theory, preliminary work by the pragmatists is often used. In contrast to the predominant atomism , a methodological holism is preferred, which analyzes the parts of a system in their interaction with the other parts and the system as a whole.

New Institutional Economics

The New Institutional Economics can be traced back to the 1937 essay The Nature of the Firm by Ronald Coase . The term New Institutional Economics was first coined by Oliver Williamson in 1975 . Nobel laureate Douglass North also played a major role in the further development of the approach .

The analysis of institutions that regulate the economic exchange of services is central to the new institutional economics. Institutions in this sense are markets, organizations and legal norms. The neo-institutionalists regard transaction costs or their minimization as an important explanatory variable for the genesis and continued existence of institutions . There are three different and complementary approaches: first, the theory of property rights (property rights), 2. the principal-agent problem and 3. the transaction cost theory .

literature

  • Robert Böhmer: The spirit of capitalism and the construction of the East. An institutional analysis of the inhibiting influence of thinking habits and mentalities on the economic development of the new federal states - based on Thorstein Veblen's “Regime of Status” and Max Weber's “Spirit of Capitalism” . Thelem-Verlag, Dresden 2005, ISBN 3-937672-42-7 , (application of institutionalist theory - especially Thorstein Veblen's “Regime of Status”).
  • Martin Bronfenbrenner: Early American leaders - Institutional and Critical traditions. In: The American Economic Review 75 (1985), ISSN  0002-8282 , pp. 13-27.
  • Ronald H. Coase: The Nature of the Firm . In: Economica . New Series Vol. IV (1937), no. 16, pp. 386-405.
  • John Rogers Commons : Institutional Economics. Macmillan. New York 1934.
  • Hans G. Nutzinger : The Firm as a Social Institution: The Failure of the Contractarian Viewpoint. In: Economic Analysis and Workers' Management 10 (1976), pp. 217-237
  • Birger P. Priddat : Structured Individualism. Institutions as Economic Theory. Metropolis, Marburg 2005, ISBN 3-89518-487-X , ( Institutional and Evolutionary Economics 27).
  • Birger P. Priddat: "Actors, contracts, networks. The cooperative mode of the economy", Metropolis 2012
  • Norbert Reuter: Institutionalism. History and theory of evolutionary economics . Metropolis-Verlag, Marburg 1994, ISBN 3-926570-42-3 , ( Evolutionary Economy 1), (At the same time: Aachen, Univ., Diss., 1993).
  • Rudolf Richter: Institutions analyzed economically . Mohr (Siebeck), Tübingen 1994, ISBN 3-8252-1786-8
  • Oliver E. Williamson: (1990): The economic institutions of capitalism. Companies, markets, cooperations . Mohr (Siebeck), Tübingen 1990.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Movement of dissent from mainstream orthodox economics", Kenneth Boulding : A New Look at Institutionalism. American Economic Review, 47, 1957. pp. 1-12.
  2. ^ "Conscience of the Economics Profession", WJ Samuels: On the Future of Institutional Economics. Journal of Economic Issues, 3, 1969. pp. 67-72.
  3. ^ Allan G. Gruchy: Modern Economic Thought: The American Contribution. Augustus M. Kelley: Clifton, NJ 2nd ed. 1967.
  4. ↑ HK Betz: How Does the German Historical School Fit? History of Political Economy, 20, 1988. pp. 409-430.
  5. ↑ Michael J. Radzicki: Methodologica oeconomiae et systematis dynamis. System Dynamics Review. 6, No. 2, Summer 1990, pp. 123-147. ISSN  0883-7066 . P. 128.
  6. ^ Association for Evolutionary Economics. Website.
  7. ^ Journal of Economic Issues. Website.
  8. ^ J. Gambs: Allan Gruchy and the Association for Evolutionary Economics. In: J. Adams, (Ed.): Institutional Economics: Essays in Honor of Allan G. Gruchy. Martinus Nijhoff: Boston 1980. pp. 26-30; B. Ranson: AFEE or AFIT: Which Represents Institutional Economics? Journal of Economic Issues, 15, 1981. pp. 521-529.
  9. ^ Allan G. Gruchy: The Reconstruction of Economics: An Analysis of the Fundamentals of Institutional Economics. Journal of Economic Issues. 20, 1987. pp. 805-823 .; MR Tool: Evolutionary Economics I: Foundations of Institutional Thought. Journal of Economic Issues. September 21, 1987 .; MR Tool: Evolutionary Economics II: Foundations of Institutional Thought. Journal of Economic Issues. December 21, 1987.
  10. ^ Journal of Institutional Economics.
  11. ^ WM Dugger: Methodological Differences Between Institutional and Neoclassical Economics. Journal of Economic Issues. 13, 1979.
  12. ^ A. Kaplan: The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Sciences. Chandler: San Francisco 1964 .; P. Diesing: Patterns of Discovery in the Social Sciences. Aldine-Atherton: Chicago 1971.
  13. ↑ Michael J. Radzicki: Methodologica oeconomiae et systematis dynamis. System Dynamics Review 6 (No. 2, Summer 1990), pp. 123-147. ISSN  0883-7066 . S. 130. / CK Wilber, RS Harrison: The Methodological Basis of Institutional Economics: Pattern Modeling, Storytelling, and Holism. Journal of Economic Issues. 12, 1978.
  14. ^ Alfred Kieser (ed.): Organization theories . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1993, Chapter 7.