ABSTRACT
Despite the underdevelopment of its philosophical and psychological foundations and its lack of a systemic theoretical approach, institutional economics was to achieve a great deal in the 1920s and 1930s. Among the most impressive of its theoretical achievements was to provide some conceptual underpinnings for Keynesian macroeconomics. In this respect the greatest credit is due to Wesley Mitchell and his colleagues at the US National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). More broadly, at the prestigious Columbia University in New York City, Mitchell built up a tradition of institutional economics that lasted well into the post-1945 era. In large part his career was a success story, and Mitchell thus ranks as the second most important figure in the history of institutional economics.
