Neoclassicism, Marxism, Institutionalism: Revisiting the broad schools of economic thought

Abstract

This paper examines each of the key schools of economic thought that have been employed in the history of the development of modern economic theorizing, that is, Neoclassicism, Marxism and Institutionalism with a view to providing a better understanding of these traditions of economic thought.

It highlights their basic provisions, philosophical underpinning, methodological approach and limitation in economic theorizing. This paper argues that each of these traditions of economic thought have collectively enriched the study, prediction, analysis, explanation and scientific generalization about empirical regularities and economic phenomena. While each one may be more suitably applied in different contexts or particular circumstance, approaches that emphasize social structures are as important as those that stress their economic equivalents in the study of economic phenomena and human interaction and exchange.

That is, to achieve a holistic study and analysis of economic phenomena, the spatial, temporal and sectoral variations in human interaction and exchange dictates that approaches that emphasizes social character to the exclusion of the economic or vice versa might not be appropriate.

Keywords: Neoclassicism; Marxism; Institutionalism, economic theorizing, history of economic thought