Institutional Economics: Its Relevance to the North Eastern Economy of India

Institutionalism is gaining popularity in the recent years. But the idea is not new. Thorstein B Veblen (1857–1929) is the founder of this school of thought.The economic characterization of human behaviour as the rational calculation of benefits and costs seemed ludicrous to Veblen. He was a bitter critic of the hedonistic principle of Jeremy Bentham and J S Mill and the Anglo-American economics that grew on this principle. Instead, Veblen argued that human behaviour is best analysed as interaction of instincts and habits and that many social processes may be interpreted as results of cultural lags. URL: [http://www.freewebs.com/nehu_economics/instner.pdf]