ABSTRACT
The origins of a research programme are often distant. They may be acknowledged, thus constituting an early heritage, or they may remain unacknowledged, as mere ‘antecedents’. Our purpose here is to initiate a debate through a ‘rational reconstruction in the present’ of the hypothetical heritage or the lines of possible relation of French régulation theory to the institutionalist approaches of a selection of early economists. This does not provide an exact comparison and it is therefore necessary to identify the similarities and differences between French régulation theory and the theories that in retrospect appear to be its antecedents.
