ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the risks inherent in putting too much emphasis, especially in heterodox institutionalism, on the significance of culture and history. It calls for giving more weight to the role of human will in guiding economic evolution toward a mixed economy that is social, democratic, and humanist. The development of that argument requires clarifying such terms as “social,” “open-ended” and “teleological,” as well as giving a brief history of mainstream and heterodox economics’ disagreement concerning the direction of society’s changes. The terms “teleological” and “open-ended” likewise require clarification. Heterodox literature refers to the mainstream emphasis on the desirability of universally established free market capitalism as “teleological,” using the term in the sense of converging on an ultimate goal. This perceptual framework has become especially apparent after formerly planned economies began to transition to market economies.
