On Mon, 11 May 1998, Rosser Jr, John Barkley wrote:
> Well, I'm in danger of going over my posting quota,
> but I guess I can't let this claim go by. It simply is not
> true that the Old Institutionalists were removed from the
> UT-Austin economics department, anymore than it is true
> that they were so removed from their fountainhead at the
> University of Wisconsin-Madison economics department. It
> is true that there are exactly zero today in either
> department, although there are some in other departments on
> the same campuses (LBJ School of Government at UT-Austin,
> Agricultural Economics at UW-Madison), but that is because
> they were replaced by non-Old Institutionalists as they
> retired or died out.
> I know that there were still some active and in place
> in the UT-Austin department as late as the early 1980s and
> that their departure was by death or retirement. They did
> not go to the University of Kansas City, if there is such a
> place, or any other place of exile. BTW, most of those at
> UT-Austin were of the of the Clarence Ayres school of Old
> Institutionalism, not the Veblen or Commons schools.
> Barkley Rosser
> On Mon, 11 May 1998 13:45:55 -0700 (PDT) Richard Marens
> <parvus at u.washington.edu> wrote:
>
> > Tom:
> >
> > that fits well with what I've heard and uncovered
> >
> > On Mon, 11 May 1998, Tom Condit wrote:
> >
> > > At 10:47 PM 5/10/1998 -0700, Richard Marens wrote:
> > > >... As the old institutional economics was dying in
> > > >econ departments (the "new" institutional economics is something else
> > > >again and is arguably a response to the growth of b-schools), people with
> > > >interests in subjects such as "theories of the firm" or the econometrics
> > > >of "competitive advantage", so I am told, found a more convivial
> > > >atmosphere in the business schools.
> > > >
> > > The old institutional economics didn't just "die out". In many cases, econ
> > > departments in state institutions were purged at the urging of conservative
> > > politicians who thought Thorstein Veblen was some sort of commie because he
> > > didn't believe that unalloyed greed was the only purpose of human society.
> > > At the University of Texas, for instance, every single institutionalist was
> > > removed. Many of them then got jobs in the business school at [University of
> > > Kansas City? I'm not sure of my memory here.].
> > >
> > >
> >
>
> --
> Rosser Jr, John Barkley
> rosserjb at jmu.edu
>
>
>