ABSTRACT
The institutionalist theory of the development of newly emerging societies is an extension of the general body of institutionalist theory. It draws upon the same basic conceptions of the nature of human behavior and the process of social change that have characterized the institutionalist interpretation of the evolutionary history of modern advanced industrial economies. Institutionalist understanding of the development process has been enriched by independent study of factors affecting comparative growth rates, internal structural shifts, and the international spread of technological and social innovation. Institutionalist development theory takes its primary roots from conceptions advanced by the American economist and social theorist, Thorstein Veblen and his intellectual successors, who extended his contribution in at least three distinguishable directions utilizing different methods and reaching different, although related, conclusions. As heterodox explanations of economic development and underdevelopment, dependency and institutionalist theory share certain characteristics.
