For most economists the terms “Chicago economics” and “institutionalism” denote clearly antithetical approaches to the discipline. Various members of the modern “Chicago School” have made highly dismissive remarks concerning American institutionalism. Coase has commented that...

American institutionalist writers were much involved in the pre-Keynesian discussion over the problems of business cycles, unemployment, and appropriate government policy towards the problems of unemployment and macroeconomic stabilization. This paper will begin by establishing the main lines of...

Previous discussions concerning the relationship between John Dewey’s pragmatic instrumentalism and institutional economics have focused on Clarence Ayres and on issues of valuation. This paper gives attention to the actual conduct of economic investigations by institutionalists such as Wesley...

John R. Commons is one of the most significant figures in the development of American economics. One of the founders of the Institutional school, Commons developed theories of the evolution of capitalism and of institutional change which continue to influence modern economics. These volumes...

This paper outlines the contributions of J.M. Clark to institutional economics. Clark is sometimes seen as standing between institutional and neoclassical economics, but I argue that this view is not accurate. Clark was intimately involved in the definition, promotion, and defense of...

The USDA Graduate School was founded in 1921 to provide statistical and economic training to the employees of the Department of Agriculture. The School did not grant degrees, but its graduate courses were accepted for credit by a significant number of universities.After its founding, the...