Economics and Institutions: The Socioeconomic Approach of K. William Kapp
Author(s)
Heidenreich, Regine
Abstract
Most of the existing reviews of K. William Kapp’s concept of social costs and his critique of economic theory originate in the seventies and eighties when Kapp was rediscovered as one of the founders of environmental policy. A review of his works pertaining to his theoretical approach to institutional economics is lacking, however. The main purpose of this survey is to trace the key concepts of Kapp’s theoretical approach and to show how that approach was influenced by cultural anthropology, social psychology, and sociology. Kapp’s revision of economics and economic policy is based on a philosophy of science often neglected in the discussion about his concept of social costs, and his contribution to institutional theory goes beyond a theoretical foundation of the concept of social costs.
