Institutional Analysis and Economic Policy

The purpose of this volume is to demonstrate how contemporary institutional economic analysis can be applied to the resolution of economic problems. All of the essays in this book challenge the conventional wisdom in the problem areas addressed. They advocate policy positions that often run contrary to views widely held by academic economists and policy makers alike. The general literature of institutional economics is unorthodox, beginning with its methodological foundations and continuing through the kind of policy analysis found in these pages. The orthodox tradition in economics is commonly characterized as "neoclassical economics." Neoclassical economics fosters the myth that only "the market" can efficiently allocate a society's economic resources and equitably distribute its income. It provides the intellectual defense for in which "free markets" are championed over democratic capitalist ideology policy formation, which it contends is neither efficient nor equitable. For both professional economists and policy makers of a conservative political persuasion, neoclassical economics writes the script for a morality play in which the market is the "good guy" and the government is the "bad guy." As such, it undermines the belief that free societies can enhance economic welfare through the use of democratic processes in the formulation of economic policies.

`Tool and Bush are among contemporary leaders of, and continuing contributors to institutional economics. They have stimulated and supported institutionalist research and policy-making of scholars and policy analysts over several decades.'
Philip O'Hara, Curtin University, Perth, Australia

 

"From the preface to the last page of the last essay, this book is an unqualified success. It demonstrates beyond any doubt that institutional economics is a policy science that is highly energized by a host of bright minds at work developing analyses that are highly relevant in the twenty-first century. All of the essays are crisply articulate and precisely target the critical aspects of the problems and policies. In the preface, Tool and Bush state that the analyses and policy positions taken by the contributors challenge the orthodox or neoclassical economics doctrine of "free markets" and that the essays "are
provocative, candid, and timely." Because that is fully borne out by the essays in a highly consistent manner, the book will serve as an excellent text for courses at the advanced undergraduate and graduate levels that deal with current socio-economic issues and policy analyses." Journal of Economic Issues, September 2004, pp. 855-857.

Charles G. Leathers, University of Alabama