Chapter 12: Why is Geoffrey Hodgson So Important for Institutional and Evolutionary Economics? Some Personal Views

I discovered Geoff’s writings when I began my PhD thesis on Thorstein Veblen in 1999. The starting point for my thesis was a certain dissatisfaction with much of the literature on Veblen, which seemed to me to give a distorted representation of his work that left his most innovative and fruitful ideas for economic theory in the background. My aim was to propose a structured representation of the rich, but difficult to grasp, thought of this nonconformist economist, which could be mobilized for contemporary economic analysis. I found in Hodgson’s work a perfect manifestation of this approach, which aimed to bring together the history of economic thought and the current research issues in institutional and evolutionary economics. Furthermore, I was struck and attracted by the singularity of Geoff’s reading of Veblen. Where many commentators focused on the normative and political dimension of Veblen’s work, Hodgson emphasised his theoretical inventiveness and the enduring relevance of his scientific project for a Darwinian evolutionary institutionalism. The Evolution of Institutional Economics: Agency, Structure and Darwinism in American Institutionalism is the sum of this research and, in my opinion, the best book ever written on Veblen’s methodological, theoretical and analytical contribution to economics. Published a few months before my PhD defence, the analyses it contains are the primary inspirations of my thesis. I remain extremely grateful to Geoff for agreeing to participate in my thesis jury and for noting in his report that “the author makes important arguments concerning the significance of Veblen’s work for today.” One of the four “Veblen 150 Prizes” I received for one of my papers (Brette, 2006)¹ and the subsequent research I have produced in the fields of the history of economic thought and of contemporary evolutionary institutionalism also owe a great deal to Geoff and his inspiring work.