We elaborate a systems approach to the nature of capital that develops the work of Menger and Lachmann (the "ML trajectory"). We propose a "layer cake" metaphor to capture the kernel of the ML approach and contrast it with the neoclassical metaphor of capital as an amorphous, homogeneous...

We examine the inseparability of capital formation and economic organisation in capitalist economic systems. Capital possesses a complex, multilevel (micro, meso, macro) structure that is always in the process of transformation. Levels of the capital structure are interdependent and interactive....

Emergence is a unifying theme of both evolutionary economics and complex systems theory. In spite of this centrality, emergence in economics has not been subject to an extensive critical analysis. This paper remedies this deficit. We identify several conditions that economic patterns (i.e....

The notion of plan coordination enjoys a central place in the analysis of institutions and competitive market processes. The conventional wisdom is that institutions and policies vary in the extent to which they promote competition and how quickly and completely they bring individuals’ plans...

We examine Ralph W. Souter's defence, in the 1930s, of Marshall's Principles against Robbins' attempt to recast economics as a 'purely formal science of implications'. Souter elaborated on Marshall's invocations progressively to increase the realism of economic science and contrasted this...