ABSTRACT
The story of Professor John Commons's contribution to the social legislation of his state is too long to tell. Such in brief was Professor Commons's preparation for writing Institutional Economics. Few, indeed, are the men who combine intimate and varied experiences in practical affairs with so much experience in using ideas. The fundamental convictions which Commons drew from experience were that men are mutually dependent creatures who must cooperate with one another. The conception of economic activities carries with it psychological conceptions different from those with which most economists have worked. To him institutional economics is an evolutionary science. It consists partly in going back through the court decisions of several hundred years, wherein collective action, not only by legislation but also by common-law decisions interpreting the legislation. Scarcity is the theme of institutional economics, which deals with the relations of man to man, with pecuniary outgo and income, with scarcity values.
