Institutional economics revisited

Description

In Institutional Economics Revisited, Shigeto Tsuru reappraises institutionalism as a school of thought and discusses its relevance for the issues which the economic profession today must tackle. In the first Lecture, Tsuru reinterprets Marxian political economy in terms of institutionalism and claims that when Marx refers to the dialectic relation of productive powers and the mode of production, he is actually speaking of institutionalism, which focuses on how the structure and functioning of the economic system is affected by technological change. In the second Lecture, Tsuru illustrates the importance of Marx's methodology as evidence of his institutional commitment by contrasting Marx's treatment of economic aggregates with those of Keynes. One of the most important differences between the two methodologies is that Marx's aggregates are tools of analysis that serve to represent the specific interrelations characteristic of a capitalistic society, whereas Keynes' aggregates may be applied to any type of society. In the third Lecture, Tsuru completes his investigation of Marx as an institutionalist by comparing Marx's and Schumpeter's theory of the business cycle in relation to the institutional characteristics of a capitalist society. Where Marx's explanation of business cycles depended on the inclusion of certain institutional factors as variables, Schumpeter first abstracts on the capitalist process and then attributes the occurrence of cycles on innovation, rather than on institutional characteristics. The fourth Lecture provides an overview of institutional economics in America by concentrating on Thorstein Veblen, the forefather of American institutionalism, and whose analysis of capitalistic society centered on the dichotomy between 'industry' and 'business'. The fifth Lecture presents the four key elements of modern institutionalism (i.e., the open-system character of the economy; the problem of planning; the evolutionary process of modern economics; and the normative character of economics) by way of an examination of three present-day institutionalists, Gunnar Myrdal, John K. Galbraith, and K. William Kapp. The sixth Lecture concentrates on the association between the concept of GNP and economic welfare and Tsuru proposes a stock approach to the historical flow approach typified by the use of GNP or national income figures for obtaining a measure of change in economic welfare. In the seventh and final Lecture, Tsuru argues in favor of a future for institutional economics by reasoning that the problems characteristic of modern socio-economic systems require an institutional approach. A Discussion with Professor Tsuru's Comments concludes the volume, which also contains a biography and bibliography of Shigeto Tsuru.

Subjects

Series Statement

• Raffaele Mattioli lectures