SHOE Archives

Societies for the History of Economics

SHOE@YORKU.CA

Options: Use Forum View

Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
[log in to unmask] (Kaboub, Fadhel (UMKC-Student))
Date:
Fri Mar 31 17:18:27 2006
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (42 lines)
----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- 
It seems to me that the first question could be answered  fairly easily, 
simply by looking at the major contributors to the Journal of  Economic 
Issues and their contributions to the economic literature beyond JEI. 
However, the second question is more challenging in my opinion: "Why has 
Institutionalism fallen out of favor?" It will also be equally challenging 
to replace the word "Institutionalism" with "Keynesianism", "Marxism" or 
"critical thought" in general.  
 
Institutionalism in the US used to be part of the mainstream up to the 
1940s and 1950s. But it was slowly loosing ground, less and less 
Institutionalist economists published in the AER (for various reasons), 
less and less topics were discussed from an Institutionalist perspective in 
AEA panels etc... this however was not due to the lack of Institutionalist 
contribution, but rather to the dominance of neoclassical economists in 
most PhD programs, editorial boards, and scientific committees in the US. 
Institutionalists eventually got together and created their own association 
(AFEE), their own editorial board, their own conferences.... They continued 
to develop Institutionalist thought with few resources (few if any graduate 
programs teaching institutionalism), and few research grants allocated to 
them... Now put this picture into a cumulative causation process and after 
a few decades you'll get institutionalism in 2002.  
 
How can this tendency be reversed? First and for most, Institutionalists 
must keep improving their theoretical arguments and applying them to real 
world policy issues. This, I believe, a large part of Institutionalists are 
doing today. Second, try to challenge the mainstream both in the media as 
well as in academic journals (if they get accepted). The average citizen 
today believes that (mainstream) economics doesn't make sense, and is 
irrelevant to societies problems. That's why I hope that more 
Institutionalists will take the time and target local and national media to 
get some Institutionalists ideas into the mainstream through the "back 
door". Who knows maybe things will change. 
 
Fadhel Kaboub 
UMKC 
[log in to unmask] 
 
------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ 
For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask] 
 

ATOM RSS1 RSS2