Institutionalists: A United Front or Divergent Voices of Dissent?

One third of a century ago, Paul Samuelson [1959, 1629] argued that American economists "present a united front tbat reflects too little basic disagreement on fundamentals." Samuelson's point was confirmed in a 1976 survey of economists by J. R. Kearl et al. [1979; hereafter "Kearl"]. Kearl concluded that, among economists, there was much agreement and very little disagreement on both theoretical propositions and policy recommendations regarding the market. That conclusion, however, must be tempered by the fact that Kearl took the membership of the American Economics Association (AEA) to be representative of academic economists, and the survey instrument was confined to propositions related to orthodox neoclassicism. Clearly, while the neoclassical paradigm is widely supported by orthodox economists and may currently be dominant, there are substantial numbers of dissenting economists. It is widely recognized that institutionalists disagree with or outright reject many orthodox neoclassical theoretical and policy