ABSTRACT
As noted in Chapter 1, heterodox economic theory consists of a theoretical critique of neoclassical economic theory as well as a theoretical alternative to it. Moreover, it was pointed out that the theory was composed of a concatenated array of arguments drawn from different heterodox approaches. For this outcome to occur, engagement between the different approaches had to take place. Hence a heterodox “social movement”—that is the bringing together of different heterodox economists to exchange ideas and work together-was needed to produce the community of heterodox economists that in turn is working on developing a heterodox economic theory. The history of the “movement” or more accurately the emergence of the heterodox economics community from 1990 to 2006, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom, is the focus of this chapter. The first part of the story concerns the adoption of heterodox economics as the “identifier” or name of a group of heterodox theories. With the name in place, the second strand of the story deals with of the emergence of the community of heterodox economists by focusing on professional integration across heterodox associations and journals in the second section, and on theoretical integration across heterodox approaches in the following section. The chapter concludes with an overview of heterodox economics in 2006 and a brief discussion on the future of heterodox economics in a contested landscape.
