Economics and Institutions

Geoffrey Hodgson is Research Professor in Business Studies at the University of Hertfordshire.

• PART 1 PRELUDE: Introduction and Outline On Methodology and Assumptions PART 2 A FAREWELL TO `ECONOMIC MAN': Behind Methodological IndividualismThe Maximisation HypothesisThe Rationalist Conception of ActionAction and InstitutionsPART 3 ELEMENTS OF AN INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS: Contracts and Property RightsMarkets as InstitutionsFirms and MarketsExpectations and the Limits to KeynesDirections and Policy Implications

"I think that this is a superb book ... what Hodgson has done is to bring together a wide range of themes, and weave them together in a particularly persuasive way. It is a must read for economists predisposed to question contemporary orthodoxy."Richard R. Nelson, Review of Political Economy "This is a landmark work in the evolution of institutional economics."Public Choice"This book is an excellent read. Written with great care, refreshing intellectual honesty and with a wide canvas of the relevant literature it should be on the “essential” reading lists of all final year and post-graduate economics students. It will also be of great interest to students of the other social sciences who would like a point of entry to the inner mysteries of the faith."Norman Clark, University of Sussex