ABSTRACT
Some analysts of Sir John Hicks write of an evolution in his thought, but his ideas on the economic institution demonstrate a constancy in his conviction that it can serve three significant functions: to allow for economic activity, to facilitate both individual and collective economic activity, and to exercise checks and balances on economic activity. Seemingly Hicks asked how societies could create the most effective economic institutions to carry the burden of allowing market forces to work best, while at the same time providing checks and balances to these same market forces.
The focus of this study is the role of the Hicksian insitution, considered either as economic (a producer or conveyor of goods and/or services), or at least in its economic context, a complex milieu where social interdependences are organized by custom and/or authority. To help understand the importance Hicks placed on economic institutions in their capacity to serve the three significant functions, a second section addresses what he perceived to be the sources of instability in economic activity. Specific institutions – nonmerchants, competition, cooperation /coordination, regulation(political and legal), resources, merchants, and price – are then examined to see whether they might be likely candidates for assuming part of the Hicksian functions. The result is a survey of some ideas on the role of institutions in the fostering, facilitating and regulating of Hicks’ vision of economic activity at its most efficient, productive best.
