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...

Review of: Transaction Cost Economics. Ed. by Oliver E. Williamson, Scott E. Masten. 1995. Edward Elgar: Aldershot

These comments focus on some issues raised in the papers by Dimand, Peart and Levy, Cot, and Leonard. These papers are fascinating, but not without weaknesses. It is argued that Dimand's presentation of what he calls the "general principle" of classical economics is misconceived. There is a...

Yngve Ramstad claimed that John R. Commons had few followers and that his ideas had relatively little influence on others, at least partly because of the difficulties of separating particular aspects of Commons' work from his whole system of thought. In contrast, the argument in this paper is...

This paper focuses on a number of issues that have arisen in my efforts to deal with the history of American institutional economics in the interwar period. The specific issues addressed here are (1) the choice of time frame; (2) the definition of institutionalism in terms of its commonly held...