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June 2024 (published: 06.06.2024)
Number 2(57)
Home > Issue > Current Aspects of Wesley Clare Mitchell's Institutional Theory
Filatova I.B.
The article analyzes the works of the American institutionalist W.K. Mitchell, whose ideas have so far attracted much less attention from modern researchers compared to the works of his colleagues in the institutional school - T. Veblen and J. R. Commons. In modern conditions, turning to the works of W.K. Mitchell is associated with the development of empirical research based on “big data” and attention to the role of culture in economic development. Mitchell's works are divided into two groups. The first group covers empirical and statistical studies, united by the general thesis that roots in human culture give rise to “social habit” and influence the type of personality opposite to “primordial human nature” (as orthodox theory understood it and built its research). The second group includes many works that emphasize aspects of human behavior and that “good” institutions, which can standardize human behavior, create greater opportunities for collecting and summarizing information and, therefore, controlling economic processes. The article provides an integrated assessment of Mitchell's contribution to the study of problems of the relationship between theory, data and policy in economics. The 21st century is the time of “big data,” which enhances the relevance of Mitchell’s ideas and his insistence on conducting empirical research, where the results of behavioral reactions of various economic groups of the population are of particular value for understanding what is happening and ensuring economic stability in any country.
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Keywords: initial institutionalism, institutions, institutional changes, human psychology, monetary economics, statistics
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
UDC 330.837.1
Current Aspects of Wesley Clare Mitchell's Institutional Theory
The article analyzes the works of the American institutionalist W.K. Mitchell, whose ideas have so far attracted much less attention from modern researchers compared to the works of his colleagues in the institutional school - T. Veblen and J. R. Commons. In modern conditions, turning to the works of W.K. Mitchell is associated with the development of empirical research based on “big data” and attention to the role of culture in economic development. Mitchell's works are divided into two groups. The first group covers empirical and statistical studies, united by the general thesis that roots in human culture give rise to “social habit” and influence the type of personality opposite to “primordial human nature” (as orthodox theory understood it and built its research). The second group includes many works that emphasize aspects of human behavior and that “good” institutions, which can standardize human behavior, create greater opportunities for collecting and summarizing information and, therefore, controlling economic processes. The article provides an integrated assessment of Mitchell's contribution to the study of problems of the relationship between theory, data and policy in economics. The 21st century is the time of “big data,” which enhances the relevance of Mitchell’s ideas and his insistence on conducting empirical research, where the results of behavioral reactions of various economic groups of the population are of particular value for understanding what is happening and ensuring economic stability in any country.
Read the full article
Keywords: initial institutionalism, institutions, institutional changes, human psychology, monetary economics, statistics
DOI 10.17586/2310-1172-2024-17-2-24-31