ABSTRACT
An Institutional Economics is one that takes account not merely of economic organization but of political and "moral" organization, and of "mere" customs and social achievements as well. It is an attempt to consider terms of exchange in the light of all the surrounding social activity and to view the social system as an integral whole. These institutional interpretations of differences in wages are simply cited as examples of the importance of institutional causes in a great number of problems that appear, on the surface, purely a matter of economic or quasi-economic sanctions. While the institutional interpretation of economics wears the charm of novelty, the economic interpretation of social institutions, considered historically or otherwise, is vieu jeu. Several illustrations of the interrelation of the economic with the political aspect will be given in the treatise as a matter of course and without apology for an apparently materialistic outlook.
