----------------- 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]