WIESER AS A THEORIST OF INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE

In this contribution, we provide an interpretation of Friedrich von Wieser’s contribution to economics that pays tribute to the originality of his work and particularly to his view of how institutions interfere with individual behavior. This interaction takes place within a disequilibrium framework...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the History of Economic Thought 2016-12, Vol.38 (4), p.463-483
Main Authors: Festré, Agnès, Garrouste, Pierre
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Assimilation
Disequilibrium
Economic analysis
Economic history
Economic theory
Humanities and Social Sciences
Individualism
Influence
Institutional change
Leadership
Monetary economics
Monetary theory
Money
Monopolies
Power
Psychological aspects
Social classes
Social economics
Society
Sociology
von Wieser, Friedrich
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Summary:In this contribution, we provide an interpretation of Friedrich von Wieser’s contribution to economics that pays tribute to the originality of his work and particularly to his view of how institutions interfere with individual behavior. This interaction takes place within a disequilibrium framework where social influences such as power or social class, and psychological factors such as force of habit or herd behavior, are the product of human action but also constitute constraints on further action. Section II stresses the institutionalist background of Wieser’s economics. We concentrate on Wieser’s general method—which we assimilate to an example of Joseph Agassi’s (1975) institutional individualism—and his analysis of the emergence and evolution of institutions via the dynamics of leaders and masses. In section III, we reinforce and illustrate the institutionalist stamp of Wieser’s economics by focusing on his work on monetary economics (Wieser 1904, 1909a, 1909b, 1927b) and his analysis of the emergence of money, based on our reading of Wieser’s Social Economics ([1927a] 1967) and The Law of Power ([1926] 1983).
ISSN:1053-8372
0142-7716
1469-9656
DOI:10.1017/S1053837216000262