Veblen's Evolutionaly Theory of Institutions

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  • ヴェブレンにおける制度進化の理論
  • ヴェブレン ニ オケル セイド シンカ ノ リロン

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Abstract

The most important Characteristics of Veblen's evolutionary economics lay in presenting the unfolding system of an accumulative process of institutions. According to Veblen, institutions are the habits of thought, in other words, the spiritual attitudes or the norms of conduct in a particular community. Although each community has its own institutional and cultural complex, “the instinct of workmanship”, that is, the abiding trait of human nature shaped in an ancient period, remains at the bottom of the complex, and secures the preservation of the species. Within limits set by workmanship, the emulative norms of conduct such as predatory exploit, conspicuous leisure and consumption can prevail. Since the instinct of workmanship coalesced with pecuniary success in the age of handicraft, automatic economic growth has been built in to continue forever. Those who cannot adapt themselves to machine technology are inclined to retrogress into more familiar and older norms of conduct. Veblen's theory of social evolution cannot be fully understood without appreciating the role of retrogression in it. We cannot find any idea of such retrogression in either New or Neo-Institutional Economics.

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