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Institutional economics, by any reckoning, has had its centenary. Alas, institutional economics is not what it once was. It has gone from being a more or less recognized part of the discipline and practice of economics to a marginalized heterodox status, and from being part of the mindset and work of many, if not most, economists to being the specialized school for some economists and latent in the work of some specialists in specialized fields. But for those content to actually do institutional economics, rather than use it as a vehicle for career enhancement, i.e., as a means of status emulation, it is alive and reasonably well, if not prosperous. Yet it has serious problems. Part of institutionalism's predicament derives from its treatment by non-institutionalist economists, treatment including being curtly dismissed, being misrepresented, being ignored, and being read out of the discipline. But some, if not much, of institutionalism's predicament derives from within, and it is this aspect of the situation that I address in this article. I approach the task from a position based on at least three foundations: as a committed and practicing institutionalist, as a historian of economic thought, and as an eclectic (and relativist) economist. Part 1 of this article summarizes my critique of neoclassical economics and my approach to the history of economic thought. I would urge application of both to the problem of the present predicament of institutional economics. Part 2, therefore, considers the internal sources of the predicament on such basis. Part 3 notes a hopeful sign. Part 4 recapitulates and extends my argument.

Extended reviews of The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the Ages, by Tom Bethell. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998. Pp. vi, 378. $29.95; Property Relations: Renewing the Anthropological Tradition, edited by C. M. Hann. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. x, 277. $59.95 (cloth), $19.95 (paper); Property in Economic Context, edited by Robert C. Hunt and Antonio Gilman. Baltimore, Md.: University Press of America, 1998. Pp. x, 381. $44.50; and The Political Institution of Private Property, by Itai Sened. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Pp. xiv, 204. $54.95.

(1995). The Making of a Relativist and Social Constructivist. Journal of Economic Issues: Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 343-358.

Gardiner Means has a secure place in the history of 20th century economic thought, as the co-author with A.A.Berle of "The Modern Corporation and Private Property". But according to Samuels and Medema, Means should be remembered for major contributions in both micro- and macroeconomics. The authors discuss Means's ideas of administered pricing and profit maximization within the giant corporation, the possible links between industrial structure and macroeconomic performance, a theory of the firm as it relates to the market, and the micro foundations of macroeconomics. Central to Means's macroeconomics is his theory that administered pricing generates inflation and stagflation. Means, in the authors' view, was a seminal thinker and a post-Keynesian economist, as well as an institutionalist. This book also gives an precis of Means's unusual career in government and the academy.

(1990). The Self-Referentiability of Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Preconceptions of Economic Science. Journal of Economic Issues: Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 695-718.