----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- It is interesting that the decline of Original Institutional Economics seems to have been paralled by a similar contemporaneous decline in the philosophical school from which it partially originated, American Pragmatism. The pragmatism of James and Dewey, and to a lesser extent C. S. Peirce, dominated American universities in the early decades of the 20th century, not just in philosophy but in physics and psychology and probably other disciplines. Menand's book, the "Metaphysical Club" tells the story of the rise, fall, and reappearance of pragmatism. And so does Wade Hands's recent book. So in considering Institutionalism we may be dealing with a broader intellectual landscape and trend than just economics. Pragmatism, and then instrumentalism, were still dominant ideas at Harvard in the 1930s. Aspects of pragmatism were actively suppressed to some degree in the middle of the 20th century. Peirce's papers were mishandled by Harvard in creating his "Collected Papers" and the most sensitive materials were withheld from scholars until the 1990s. Perhaps if Samuelson had read and thought about Peirce as much as E. B. Wilson did in the 1930s, economics might have been much different the past few decades. Lastly, if my memory serves me correctly, the last chapter of the Menand book also considers why pragmatism seemed to fall out of favor in American universities after World War II. Jim Wible University of New Hampshire ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]