Welfare Reform

In the Preface of this volume, the editors state that the common purpose of the volume’s various chapters is to “demonstrate how contemporary institutional economic analysis can be applied to the resolution of economic problems.” Institutional economics is characterized as “unorthodox,” challenging the myth that “only ‘the market’ can efficiently allocate a society’s economic resources and equitably distribute its income.” The unorthodox methodological foundations of institutional economic analysis lead to policy analysis that challenges the “conventional wisdom” in the problem areas it addresses.