Malcolm Rutherford

Department of Economics, University of Victoria

Malcolm Rutherford received a BA from the Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, an MA from Simon Fraser University, and a PhD from the University of Durham in England. He joined the Department of Economics at UVic in 1977. He was Chair of the Department from 1991 to 1999. He has held visiting scholar positions at Columbia University (2000) and the London School of Economics (2003), and has been president of the History of Economics Society and the Association for .

His research has a particular focus on American economic institutionalism. Early in his career he wrote a series of papers commenting on the strengths and weaknesses of approach by key American institutional economists, such as Veblen, Commons, Mitchell, and Ayres. Following the rise of “new institutionalism” in the 1980s, he wrote on the differences and commonalities between “old institutionalism” and “new institutionalism.” His 1994 Cambridge University Press book Institutions in Economics: The Old and the New Institutionalism, emphasized common ground between the approaches.

His more recent work has focused on studying the rise of in America, its important contributions to mainstream American economic thought in the interwar period, and its eventual eclipse by the neoclassical approach after WWII. Much of this later research has been archival in nature. Some of the research concerns the role of major foundations and research centers in the US in the development of economic thought. This work is brought together in a forthcoming book The Institutionalist Movement in American Economics, 1918- 1947: Science and Social Control, to be published by Cambridge University Press.

Professor Rutherford was given the Faculty of Social Sciences Award for Research Excellence in 2009. He is currently on the editorial boards of History of Political Economy, Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Journal of Institutional Economics, and the Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics.

Publications and Working Papers

Books

1994 Institutions in Economics: the Old and the New Institutionalism. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, pp. xi, 225. Reprinted 1995 and 1999; Paperback edition 1996; Arabic language edition 1998; Chinese language edition 1999.

2011 The Institutionalist Movement in American Economics, 1918-1947: Science and Social Control. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, pp. xii, 410.

Edited Books

1996 John R. Commons: Selected Essays, 2 vols. Edited and with an Introduction (with Warren J. Samuels). Routledge: London, pp. viii, 557.

1997 Classics in Institutional Economics: The Founders, 5 vols. Edited and with an Introduction (with Warren J. Samuels). Pickering and Chatto: London.

1998 The Economic Mind in America: Essays in the History of American Economics. Perspectives on the History of Economic Thought. Edited and with an Introduction. Routledge: London, pp. xi, 333.

1998 From Interwar Pluralism to Postwar Neoclassicism. Annual Supplement to Volume 30 of History of Political Economy. Edited (with Mary Morgan). Duke University Press: Durham NC, pp. vi, 325.

1998 Classics in Institutional Economics II, 5 vols. Edited and with an Introduction (with Warren J. Samuels). Pickering and Chatto: London.

2003 Early American Economic Thought Series. Series Editor (with William J. Barber, Marianne Johnson, Steven G. Medema, and Warren J. Samuels). Three parts and 15 volumes. Pickering and Chatto: London.

2004 The Emergence of a National Economy: The from Independence to the Civil War. Part II in the Early American Economic Thought Series, 6 vols. Edited and with an Introduction (with Marianne Johnson and William J. Barber). Pickering and Chatto: London.

Chapters

1988 Learning and Decision Making in Economics and Psychology: A Methodological Perspective. In Peter Earl (ed.), Psychological Economics, Kluwer Academic: Boston, pp. 35-54.

1990 Introduction to the Transaction Edition. J. R. Commons, Institutional Economics: Its Place in Political Economy (1934), Transaction: New Brunswick, pp. xiii-xxxvii.

1990 Science, Self-Correction and Values: From Peirce to Institutionalism. In John Lutz (ed.), Social Economics: Retrospect and Prospect, Kluwer Academic: Boston, pp. 391-406.

1994 J.A. Hobson and American Institutionalism: Underconsumption and Technological Change. In John Pheby (ed.), J. A. Hobson After Fifty Years, Macmillan: London, pp. 188-210.

1994 Predatory Practices or Reasonable Values? American Institutionalists on the Nature of Market Transactions. In Neil De Marchi and Mary Morgan (eds.), Higgling: Transactors and Their Markets in the History of Economics, Annual Supplement to Volume 26 of History of Political Economy , Duke University Press, Durham NC, 253-275.

1998 American Economics: The Character of the Transformation (with Mary Morgan). In Mary Morgan and Malcolm Rutherford (eds.), From Interwar Pluralism to Postwar Neoclassicism. Annual Supplement to Volume 30 of History of Political Economy, Duke University Press: Durham NC, pp.1-26.

1999 Institutionalism as "Scientific" Economics. In Roger Backhouse and John Creedy (eds.), From Classical Economics to the Theory of the Firm: Essays in Honour of D. P. O'Brien, Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, pp. 223-242.

2003 American Institutional Economics in the Interwar Period. In Warren Samuels, John Davis, and Jeff Biddle, eds., A Companion to the History of Economic Thought. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 360-376.

2005 The Firm in American Institutional Economics. In Marco Guidi and Daniela Parisi, eds., The Changing Firm. Contributions from the History of Economic Thought. Milan: Franco Angeli, pp. 38-51.

2005 Walton H. Hamilton and the Public Control of Business. In Steven Medema and Peter Boettke, eds., The role of Government in the History of Political Economy. Supplement to volume 37, History of Political Economy. Durham NC: Duke University Press, pp.234-273.

2010 Chicago Economics and Institutionalism. In Ross Emmett, ed., Elgar Companion to the Chicago School of Economics, Aldershot: Edward Elgar, pp. 25-39.

Journal Articles

1980 Veblen on Owners, Managers and the Control of Industry. History of Political Economy 12 (3): 434-440. [Reprinted in M. Blaug (ed.) Pioneers in Economics 32: 1857-1929, Edward Elgar: Aldershot, 1992; and in J.C. Wood (ed.), Thorstein Veblen: Critical Assesments, Routledge: London, 1993].

1981 Veblen on Owners, Managers and the Control of Industry: A Rejoinder. History of Political Economy 13 (1): 156-158. [Reprinted in M. Blaug (ed.), Pioneers in Economics 32: Thorstein Veblen 1857-1929, Edward Elgar: Aldershot, 1992; and in J.C. Wood (ed.), Thorstein Veblen: Critical Assesments, Routledge: London, 1993].

1981 Clarence Ayres and the Instrumental Theory of Value. Journal of Economic Issues. 15 (3): 657-673. [Reprinted in W. Samuels (ed.), Schools of Thought in Economics 5: Institutional Economics, Edward Elgar: Aldershot, 1988; and in M. Blaug (ed.) Pioneers in Economics 33: Wesley Mitchell 1874-1948, John Commons 1862-1945, Clarence Ayres 1891-1972, Edward Elgar: Aldershot, 1992].

1983 Ayres's Instrumentalism: A Reply to Weinel. Journal of Economic Issues 17 (3): 750-753.

1983 J.R. Commons's Institutional Economics. Journal of Economic Issues 17 (3): 721-744. [Reprinted in W. Samuels (ed.), Schools of Thought in Economics 5: Institutional Economics, Edward Elgar: Aldershot, 1988; and in M. Blaug (ed.), Pioneers in Economics 33: Wesley Mitchell 1874-1948, John Commons 1862-1945, Clarence Ayres 1891- 1972, Edward Elgar: Aldershot, 1992].

1984 Rational Expectations and Keynesian Uncertainty: A Critique. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics 6 (3): 377-387.

1984 Thorstein Veblen and the Processes of Institutional Change. History of Political Economy 16 (3): 331-348. [Reprinted in M. Blaug (ed.), Pioneers in Economics 32: Thorstein Veblen 1857-1929, Edward Elgar: Aldershot, 1992; in J.C. Wood (ed.), Thorstein Veblen: Critical Assessments, Routledge, London, 1993; in G. Hodgson (ed.) The Foundations of Evolutionary Economics: 1890-1973, Edward Elagar: Cheltenham, 1998, and in Rick Tilman (ed.), The Legacy of Thorstein Veblen, Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, 2003].

1987 Wesley Mitchell: Institutions and Quantitative Methods. Eastern Economic Journal 13 (1): 63-73.

1989 Some Issues in the Comparison of Austrian and Institutional Economics. Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology 6: 159-172.

1989 What is Wrong with the New Institutional Economics (And What is Still Wrong with the Old)? Review of Political Economy 1 (3): 299- 318.

1990 Rational Expectations in the Light of Modern Psychology. Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology 7: 127-140.

1990 Allan Gruchy: 1906-1990. Review of Political Economy 2 (3): 371- 374.

1992 On Trusts and Technostructures: Veblen, Berle and Means, and Galbraith. International Journal of Social Economics 19 (10/11/12): 268-278.

1992 Thorstein Veblen and the Problem of the Engineers. International Review of Sociology, new series, 1992 (3): 125-150. [Reprinted in Rick Tilman (ed.), The Legacy of Thorstein Veblen, Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, 2003].

1995 The Old and the New Institutionalism: Can Bridges be Built? Journal of Economic Issues 29 (2): 443-451.

1995 “The Criticism of Modern Civilization” by Wesley Mitchell. Edited and with an Introduction by Malcolm Rutherford. Journal of Economic Issues 29 (3): 663-682.

1996 "Money Economy and Modern Civilization" by Wesley Mitchell. Edited and with an Introduction by Malcolm Rutherford. History of Political Economy 28 (3): 317-357.

1997 American Institutionalism and the History of Economic Thought (Presidential address to the History of Economics Society). Journal of the History of Economic Thought 19 (Fall): 178-195.

1998 Thorstein Veblen's Evolutionary Programme: A Promise Unfulfilled. Cambridge Journal of Economics 22 (July): 463-477.

2000 The Prospects of Heterodox Economics: A Comment. Journal of the History of Economic Thought 22 (June): 185-188.

2000 Institutionalism Between the Wars. Journal of Economic Issues 24 (June): 291-303.

2000 Understanding Institutional Economics: 1918-1929. Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 22 (September): 277-308.

2001 Institutional Economics: Then and Now. Journal of Economic Perspectives 15 (Summer): 173-194. [Reprinted in Geoffrey M. Hodgson, ed., A Modern Reader in Institutional and Evolutionary Economics. Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, 2003, and in Nicholas Mercuro, ed., Law and Economics. Routledge: London, 2007].

2002 Morris A. Copeland: A Case Study in the History of Institutional Economics. Journal of the History of Economic Thought 24 (September):261-290.

2003 On the Economic Frontier: Walton Hamilton, Institutional Economics, and Education. History of Political Economy 35 (Winter): 611-653.

2004 Institutional Economics: The Term and its Meanings. Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology 22-A: 179-184.

2004 Institutional Economics at Columbia University. History of Political Economy 36 (Spring): 31-78.

2005 “Who’s Afraid of Arthur Burns?” The NBER and the Foundations. Journal of the History of Economic Thought 27 (June): 109-139.

2005 Comments on Four Papers on Economics and Human Heterogeneity. American Journal of Economics and Sociology 64 (July):881-886.

2006 Wisconsin Institutionalism: John R. Commons and his Students. Labor History 47 (May): 161-188.

2007 American Institutionalism and its British Connections. European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 14 (June): 291-323.

2008 The Institutionalist Reaction to Keynesian Economics (with Tyler DesRoches). Journal of the History of Economic Thought 30 (March): 29-48.

2008 John R. Commons’s “Reasonable Value.” Edited and with an Introduction (with Warren Samuels and Charles Whalen). Research in the History of Economic thought and Methodology 26-B: 223-307.

2008 A. W. (Bob) Coats, 1924-2007 (with Roger Backhouse, Bruce Caldwell, and Craufurd Goodwin). History of Political Economy 40 (Fall): 421-446.

2009 Towards a History of American Institutional Economics (Presidential Address to the Association for Evolutionary Economics). Journal of Economic Issues 43 (June): 309-318.

2009 Did Commons Have Few Followers? Continuing my Conversation with Yngve Ramstad. Journal of Economic Issues 43 (June): 441-448.

2010 Science and Social Control: The Institutionalist Movement in American Economics, 1918-1947. Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics 3 (Autumn): 47-71.

2011 The USDA Graduate School: Government Training in Statistics and Economics, 1921-1945. Journal of the History of Economic Thought, forthcoming.

Entries

1994 John R. Commons, 1862-1945. In G. Hodgson, W. Samuels and M. Tool (eds.), Elgar Companion to Institutional and Evolutionary Economics. Edward Elgar: Aldershot, pp. 63-69.

1994 Austrian and American (Old) Institutionalism. In P.T. Boettke (ed.), Elgar Companion to Austrian Economics. Edward Elgar: Aldershot, pp. 529-534.

1998 John R. Commons. In J. Davis, U. Maki, and W. Hands (eds.), The Handbook of . Edward Elgar: Aldershot, pp. 67-69.

1998 Institutionalism. In J. Davis, U. Maki, and W. Hands (eds.), The Handbook of Economic Methodology. Edward Elgar: Aldershot, pp. 249-253.

2007 Mitchell, Wesley Clair (1874-1948). International Encyclopedia of the social Sciences, 2nd Edition. Woodbridge CT: Macmillan Reference USA.

2008 Institutionalism, Old. New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Edition. London: Macmillan.

2008 The National Bureau of Economic Research. New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Edition. London: Macmillan.

2009 Hamilton, Walton Hale (1881-1958). Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law. New Haven CT: Yale University Press.

Working Papers:

Walton Hamilton and the Public Control of Business.(pdf file) (longer version of the published paper)

Wisconsin Institutionalism: John R. Commons and His Students.(pdf file) (longer version of the published paper)

The USDA Graduate School: Government Training in Statistics and Economics, 1921- 1945.(pdf file) (forthcoming in Journal of the History of Economic Thought)

Field, Undercover, and Participant Observers in American Labor Economics, 1900- 1930. (pdf file)