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Veblen’s evolutionary methodology and its implications for heterodox economics in the calculable future

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  • Tae-Hee Jo

    (State University of New York—Buffalo State)

Abstract

Critics have repeatedly claimed that heterodox economics has failed. They blame heterodox economists for their own failure. I subject this claim to critical examination from the perspective of Veblen’s evolutionary methodology. Veblen’s theory of the business enterprise will be used as an example, which exemplifies the case that a ‘blasphemous’ theory is ignored and marginalized even though it provides rich and perspicacious insights into the evolution of economy and society. It is also argued that social science does not follow the biological principle of natural selection and the survival of the fittest. What survives does not necessarily mean the fittest in the social realm. The history of science is replete with paradoxical incidents that an incoherent, irrelevant, or even wrong theory becomes dominant and widely accepted because it is one that serves the vested interests in academia and society. Economics is no exception.

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  • Tae-Hee Jo, 2021. "Veblen’s evolutionary methodology and its implications for heterodox economics in the calculable future," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 2(2), pages 277-295, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:revepe:v:2:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s43253-020-00024-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s43253-020-00024-1
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Thorstein Veblen; Heterodox economics; Evolution; Business enterprise;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B15 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary
    • B25 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Austrian; Stockholm School
    • B50 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - General
    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory

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