Marc R. Tool - Böcker

J. Fagg Foster (1907-1985) was one of the most significant creators of institutionalist economic theory in the 20th century. He wrote and taught in the American intellectual tradition of Thorstein Weblen, John R. Commons, John Dewey and Clarence E. Ayres. This tradition shares purpose and philosophy with the European contributors, Gunnar Myrdal and K. William Kapp. Because little of Foster's scholarly work was formally published, professional knowledge of his extraordinary contribution is quite limited beyond the circle of his students and colleagues. This title attempts to correct that deficiency by providing an extended characterization of this missing and crucial component of the development of American heterodox economic thought. Its purpose is to demonstrate the timely relevance and significance of this model of inquiry in political economy. In addition, the author explains that contemporary problem solving means changing "what is" into "what ought to be" through institutional adjustments; such a demonstration is at the heart of Foster's contribution to institutional thought.

Marc R. Tool This book of especially solicited contributions is intended to appraise, re- fine, and extend the institutionalists' evolutionary theory of political eco- nomy in six different areas of inquiry. These areas are the institutionalist challenge to move beyond dissent, methodology of institutional econo- mics, theory of instrumental value, institutionaUst theory of labor markets, institutionalist theory of economic development, and institutionalist policymaking. This collection appears at an especially opportune time. There is wide- spread and accumulating analytical dissatisfaction with received economic doctrine (West and East) and its often abortive application to policy. The traditional neoclassical and Marxist views of how to order and operate a political economy are now heavily discounted, especially by those who must bear the brunt of flawed or ineffectual policies derived from these views. Appeals are increasingly made for more populist and pragmatic, less doctrinaire and dogmatic, approaches to problem solving. Instituti- aUsts are responding to this concern by contributing poUcy-relevant analysis.

The starting point of the essays in this text is Marc Tool's seminal work in the field: the essays thus honour Tool by extending his analysis and ideas. The essays are loosely grouped under three headings: the theory of social value; the instrumental value principle; and extensions of Toolian themes. Many of the issues discussed are fundamental to institutional economics as well as to the social sciences in general. Among them are social value, valuation, instrumentalism, pragmatism, post-modernism and critical rhetoric. The book balances theoretical essays with ones that deal with actual problems in economics and policy.

This narrative recounts the 18th and 19th century "shipping out" of Pacific islanders aboard European and American vessels, a kind of "counter-exploring", that echoed the ancient voyages of settlement of their island ancestors.

This is a collection of Marc Tool's essays on instituitional econonics, written over the 1980s.

The contributors to this volume focus on the political and value issues that, in their shared view, underlie the global environmental crisis facing us today. They argue that only by transforming our dominant values, social institutions and way of living can we avoid ecological disaster.

This is a book on economic policy that takes the role of democracy seriously. It challenges the conventional wisdom espoused by leaders of both major political parties in the US, and increasingly by leaders of other nations, that markets and not democratic policy formation should determine the legitimate role of private interests in the conduct of the economy. The authors of the essays in this book reject the mainstream neoclassical view that the market should rule "uber alles." Examining the problems existing in a number of crucial areas of economic policy, they demonstrate the inadequacy of orthodox view that markets can generate economic welfare without the guidance of democratically formulated economic policies. Using the principles of the original institutional economics (OIE), they fashion long-term strategies for the formation of economic policies that can accommodate institutional changes necessary to meet the ever-changing circumstances faced by nations in a global economy. The editors have assembled a group of scholars with special expertise in the problems they address.In each instance they offer original insights into issues that many in the mainstream had thought were settled. The analysis and policy proposals of the essays in this book do not defer to the dominant vested interests in industry, academe, or government. The views expressed are fresh, candid, and break out of the ideological boxes that have for so long encapsulated public debates on economic policies.

The purpose of this volume is to demonstrate how contemporary institutional economic analysis can be applied to the resolution of economic problems. All of the essays in this book challenge the conventional wisdom in the problem areas addressed. They advocate policy positions that often run contrary to views widely held by academic economists and policy makers alike. The general literature of institutional economics is unorthodox, beginning with its methodological foundations and continuing through the kind of policy analysis found in these pages. The orthodox tradition in economics is commonly characterized as "neoclassical economics." Neoclassical economics fosters the myth that only "the market" can efficiently allocate a society's economic resources and equitably distribute its income. It provides the intellectual defense for in which "free markets" are championed over democratic capitalist ideology policy formation, which it contends is neither efficient nor equitable. For both professional economists and policy makers of a conservative political persuasion, neoclassical economics writes the script for a morality play in which the market is the "good guy" and the government is the "bad guy." As such, it undermines the belief that free societies can enhance economic welfare through the use of democratic processes in the formulation of economic policies.

This authoritative and comprehensive reference work introduces the reader to the major concepts and leading contributors in the field of institutional and evolutionary economics. The Companion's coverage includes contributions by leading international authors working in the traditions of Thorstein Veblen, Joseph Schumpeter and the new institutionalist economics. Featuring accessible, informative and provocative entries on all the significant areas, this book breaks new ground by bringing together widely dispersed but theoretically congruent ideas for the first time. Several entries assess evolutionary and institutional aspects in the work of otherwise orthodox political economists, such as Adam Smith, Alfred Marshall and Friedrich A. von Hayek. Although some attention has been given to the critique of mainstream neoclassical economics, the principal focus has been on the affirmative presentation of institutional and evolutionary economics as alternatives to both the neoclassical and Marxian schools. An important feature of the work is the inclusion of a large number of entries addressing the foundations of inquiry into political economy.As the best single reference source on institutional and evolutionary economics now available, this two volume set will be welcomed by students and teachers in economics, scholars in related social sciences and government policymakers.

Pricing, Valuation and Systems reintroduces American neoinstitutional economics as an alternative to the neoclassical orthodoxy. Neoinstitutionalism, Professor Tool argues, provides a pragmatic analysis that confirms that most prices and costs are set by empowered discretionary agents, not by impersonal free markets. Similarly, the institutional fabric of contemporary economic systems is shown to be defined by agents with power, not natural laws or ‘ism’ models. The author’s analysis is based upon the instrumental value theory of neoinstitutionalism rather than the utility value theory of neoclassicism. It challenges the price theory ‘heartland’ of neoclassical theory and the ‘market shock’ approach to restructuring Eastern Europe and offers neoinstitutional alternatives.

Paul Dale Bush has been an imaginative and important contributor to the neo-institutionalist economic literature in the United States for over three decades. This is the first of two volumes presenting a tribute to this highly influential scholar.The majority of Paul Dale Bush's recent scholarly writings have addressed the clarification and refinement of the pragmatic instrumentalist model of inquiry. This book first reviews Dale Bush's main contributions to academic life and to neo-institutional scholarship. Internationally recognized contributors - Phillip Anthony O'Hara, Erkki Kilpinen, Geoffrey M. Hodgson, Kurt Dopfer, Warren J. Samuels, Edythe S. Miller, Ann L. Jennings and William Waller - then provide a penetrating analysis of the Veblen-based neo-institutionalist theoretical approach to inquiry and its reflection in social value theory.This book will be of great interest to postgraduate students and scholars in the field of institutional economics, political economy, history of economic thought, methodology and social value theory.

Throughout his long career as a professional scholar, Paul Dale Bush has been a cogent theorist, a model practitioner and an ardent defender of academic freedom and of democratic practices. Institutionalist Theory and Applications is the second of two volumes celebrating his career and his contribution to neo-institutional economics.This volume presents contributions by a distinguished group of institutionalist scholars: Edythe S. Miller, Philip A. Klein, James A. Cypher, F. Gregory Hayden, John Groenewegen, Peter Soderbaum, Charles M.A. Clark, Catherine Kavanagh and Janice Peterson. The book explores the interdependence of theory and policy and applies institutional theory to several problem areas of governance and performance.This book will be of great interest to postgraduate students and academics in the field of institutional economics, evolutionary economics, political economy, history of economic theory, methodology, social economics, social policy and social value theory.

J. Fagg Foster (1907-1985) was one of the most significant creators of institutionalist economic theory in the twentieth century. He wrote and taught in the American intellectual tradition of Thorstein Weblen, John R. Commons, John Dewey and Clarence E. Ayres. This tradition shares purpose and philosophy with the European contributors, Gunnar Myrdal and K. William Kapp. Because little of Foster's scholarly work was formally published, professional knowledge of his extraordinary contribution is quite limited beyond the circle of his students and colleagues. Value Theory and Economic Progress attempts to correct that deficiency by providing an extended characterization of this missing and crucial component of the development of American heterodox economic thought. Its purpose is to demonstrate the timely relevance and significance of this model of inquiry in political economy. In addition, this volume explains that contemporary problem solving means changing `what is' into `what ought to be' through institutional adjustments; such a demonstration is at the heart of Foster's contribution to institutional thought.