The Concept of National Planning in Institutional Economics

Abstract

One of the most significant characteristics of the whole institutionalist movement in contemporary economic thought has been its close association with social criticism and evaluation of matters relating to economic welfare. Institutional economists in the United States, beginning with Veblen, have not only analyzed the economic scene before them, but have gone beyond economic analysis and interpretation to speculate about the ends of social organization and to consider how social purposes are affected by underlying economic considerations. One has but to call to mind Veblen's The Engineers and the Price System, J. M. Clark's Social Control of Business, R. G. Tugwell's The Industrial Discipline and the Governmental Arts, M. Ezekiel's recently published Jobs for All Through Industrial Expansion, and similar proposals from other quarters to see how extensive has been the interest of these institutional economists in problems of economic welfare. They have felt themselves called upon to use their accumulated knowledge about the economic system as a tool for social and economic criticism and for the definition of the proper ends of our economic system. As one outstanding representative of the institutional school has expressed this matter, Never has the world been more obviously in need of expert leadership and never has the obligation of leadership more obviously devolved upon a single group. It is the clear duty of American economists to say what the economic