ABSTRACT
Institutional economics got its name from this classic article by Walton Hamilton. In this article, Hamilton boldly denies microeconomics the status of theory. To defend this attack on the foundations of Neoclassical orthodoxy he sets out five criteria that any economic theory must meet, and he contends that the "institutional approach" meets these criteria.
Hamilton's article is simultaneously an attack on Neoclassical microeconomics, which he refers to as "value economics, " and an argument for the general concerns of Institutional economics. The reader should note that Hamilton uses the term "institution" to mean both socially organized behavior and social structure. The dual usage of this term has led to consistent confusion in the Institutional literature.
