ABSTRACT
In this and the following chapter I outline the foundations of Veblen’s institutional and evolutionary economics, as it emerged in the period from 1896 to 1909. With one exception, Veblen’s most important published works appeared in twelve crammed years from 1898 to 1909 inclusive. They include his Theory of the Leisure Class (1899a) and The Theory of Business Enterprise (1904). Fifteen of the eighteen classic essays collected together in Veblen’s Place of Science in Modern Civilization (1919a) appeared in those dozen years. The foremost theoretical work that lies outside this period is the Instinct of Workmanship (1914), which Veblen himself regarded as his most important work. It laid out more completely than any other the psychological foundations of his approach. However, this later volume was planned as early as 1900, and five of its seven long chapters were probably drafted by 1911 (Dorfman, 1934, p. 197; Jorgensen and Jorgensen, 1999, pp. 140, 207). Consequently, it will be considered largely as a product of those energetic earlier years. In addition, Veblen’s Higher Learning in America, although published in 1918, was drafted by about 1904 (Veblen, 1918, p. v; 1973, p. 141). Other works after 1909, especially his Imperial Germany (1915), are also of importance, but they are less concerned with the further development of theoretical and conceptual foundations and more with applications of his ideas.
