An Institutionalist Review of Long Wave Theories: Schumpeterian Innovation, Modes of Regulation, and Social Structures of Accumulation
Author(s)
O’Hara, Phillip Anthony
Abstract
In this paper, I scrutinize two theories that many institutionalists would have sympathy with: the Schumpeterian theory of innovation and David Gordon’s theory of social structures of accumulation (SSA). These approaches are critically examined to determine broad continuity with the institutionalist method of (1) holistic and interdisciplinary analysis, (2) utilizing the notions of circular and cumulative causation, (3) incorporating evolutionary change, and (4) emphasizing the contradictions within and among institutions.