ABSTRACT
The interrelation between methodological concern and political commitment, which is evident in Kapp’s approach, is typical of what is commonly denoted as the ‘substantive’ point of view, and can be traced back to the ‘classical’ institutional critique (by ‘Veblen and his followers’, as Kapp says) of the marketcapitalist system as well as of neoclassical economics. In this sense, Kapp’s 1976 article coherently develops the basic questions he afforded in his first publication (1936); and the theory of ‘social costs’ appears as an important milestone along that run, precisely because it corresponds to the deep and consistent inspiration of a lifelong work.
