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WEBER AND VEBLEN ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Author(s) -
Hansen Niles M.
Publication year - 1964
Publication title -
kyklos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.766
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1467-6435
pISSN - 0023-5962
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6435.1964.tb01751.x
Subject(s) - veblen good , economics , neoclassical economics
SUMMARY Many of the central problems surrounding economic development require a broader analytic context than that provided by traditional Western economic theory. The value of the institutionalist tradition has been referred to with increasing frequency in this regard. The contributions and shortcomings of this tradition are well illustrated in V eblen's thought. The shortcomings, the principal subject of this paper, include (a) an inadequate treatment of economic motivation (b) a tendency to view the study of economic institutions as a substitute for, rather than a complement to, price theory (including the related disciplines of mathematical economics and econometrics) and (c) an inadequate exploration of the nature and significance of alternative institutions in their relation to economic development. In each of these respects the concepts and comparative analyses of M ax W eber provide valuable additions to both methodology and theory. Weber's legacy deserves the attention of all those who believe that (to paraphrase Whitehead) economics should be a survey of possibilities, not a quarrel among irritable professors.