A Heterodox Look to the Old and New Institutional School

In the history of economic thought, many schools have existed, and these schools exhibited different characteristics from each other as methodological. Some schools have argued that economics will be the basis of science, and that there are the general laws and rules that will be valid in all conditions regardless of place and time like in physical science, and these schools have placed mathematics as the basis of their analysis and made a goal. These schools have been evaluated within the orthodox economic approach. Some schools argued economics is a social science, and the problems encountered have a social characteristic, so it cannot be considered independent from society. From this point of view, they argued that no general rules that would be valid in every condition, and time. They also argued that mathematics can be considered as a tool rather than a goal in economics. Schools that have this mentality are considered as heterodox economic approaches. Institutional economics is one of the schools that first come to mind, when it is called heterodox theory. In the study, discussions will be made about whether institutional economics should be evaluated within a heterodox or an orthodox economic trend. Institutional economics plays an important role in the development of economic thought. Institutional economics emphasize the importance of institutions in the economic system as an alternative to the analysis of Neoclassical economics based on rational human, equilibrium, deductive and abstraction. In the study, while the idea of evaluating the New institutionalists within heterodox economics is approached with suspicion, it is generally evaluated that Old Institutional economics is within the scope of heterodox economics due to their opposition to Neoclassical economics doctrine.