IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mes/jeciss/v42y2008i3p823-851.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

John R. Commons, the New Deal and the American Tradition of Empirical Collectivism

Author

Listed:
  • Rick Tilman

Abstract

Few critics will question that the high tide of the influence of American institutional economics was reached during the New Deal. John R. Commons, Thorstein Veblen and their disciples reached the apex of their impact on public policy as sources of doctrine, policy-making and advising. Commons remains an influential figure in the history of institutional economics and progressive social thought. And he resides in the American tradition of empirical collectivism as articulated by Currin V. Shields in 1952. The tradition as understood by Commons finds the ultimate locus of power in democratic majorities, not in hegemonic classes or corporate networks, and it is only by its refinement and replenishment that it can meet the demands thrust upon it. His mature theoretical work, published between 1924 and 1950, is the main source of his empirical collectivism as shown through textual exegesis and biographical extrapolation.

Suggested Citation

  • Rick Tilman, 2008. "John R. Commons, the New Deal and the American Tradition of Empirical Collectivism," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(3), pages 823-851, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:mes:jeciss:v:42:y:2008:i:3:p:823-851
    DOI: 10.1080/00213624.2008.11507181
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00213624.2008.11507181
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00213624.2008.11507181?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mes:jeciss:v:42:y:2008:i:3:p:823-851. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/MJEI20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.