The aim of this paper is to offer a general overview of the institutionalist approach to economics, hoping to make clear some of its main advantages as a framework of study of the economic process. In doing so, a brief exposition about some of the weaknesses of neoclassical economics will be performed in latter sections of the article -being one of them the ignorance of its own implicit value premises. The paper concludes that the advantages of the institutionalist framework are anchored on the fact that it offers a broader perspective about the social system, a more plausible hypothesis than the equilibrium one about the functioning of the social system -the cumulative circular causation-, a cautious treatment of quantitative analysis, and the recognition of the impossibility to avoid value premises in scientific analysis.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by University Library of Munich, Germany in its series MPRA Paper with number
14047.
Find related papers by JEL classification: B40 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - General B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Institutional; Evolutionary A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.: