Ec 546 Institutional Economics

Considers the contributions of seminal thinkers to what is regarded as an alternate or heterodox school in economic science. Contribution of Thornstein Veblen, John R. Commons, Wesley Mitchell, Simon Kuznets, Clarence Ayres, Gunnar Myrdal, and John Kenneth Galbraith, as well as more contemporary thinkers will be explored. Institutional theory will be compared and contrasted with neoclassical economics, and shown as a viable theory posing a formidable challenge to the dominant paradigm of orthodoxy. Neo-institutionalist challenges will also be considered.