Veblen's Institutionalism A Challenge Against Methodological and Theoretical Foundations of Economics

Veblen was one of the most famous founding fathers of institutionalism who, with his pioneering studies, revolutionized economics in all its intellectual and philosophical traditions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. His scientific works were so influential that there are still a lot of endeavors to find out his viewpoints. Considering the unparalleled role of him in the development of institutional economics, this paper will specifically study different aspects of his ideas and thoughts. In fact, the important point is that what are the main theories and ideas of this great savant? What aspects of conventional economics were insufficient that encouraged him to build a school with the name of institutional economics? What was his methodological approach to economics? What kind of transformations this approach has created in the scope of economic knowledge? Veblen's unique vision makes such questions regarding his thoughts as considerable important ones. For, in the history of economic thought, his attack to epistemological and methodological foundations of conventional economics is one of the most serious ones. In this context, this paper will address the above questions, and scrutinize a few aspects of his important achievements and will represent some of the epistemological, methodological and theoretical innovations of his works.