The Institution, the Economy and the Market

Karl Polanyi's Institutional Thought for Economists

Bibliographic Data

ID5775083
AuthorsJérôme Maucourant (Université Jean Monnet), Sébastien Plociniczak (Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France)
Year2013
Volume25
Issue3
Pages512-531
Publication date2013-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueReview of Political Economy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0953-8259 • E-ISSN: 1465-3982
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09538259.2013.807675
OpenAlexW2014598634
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited30

This paper aims to clarify the logical structure of Karl Polanyi's concept of institution, especially with regard to his most important contribution to political economy-the conception of self-regulating markets as institutions. Although Polanyi did not provide a well-developed concept of institution, this article argues that such a concept exists in his work. Moreover, there is in Polanyi's work a sophisticated institutionalist account of the self-regulating market that has been largely overlooked as Polanyi does not present it explicitly. Analyzing the economy as an institutionalized process, as Polanyi does, reveals that the market is neither a natural nor a spontaneous phenomenon-a conclusion that runs counter to conventional economic thinking. Polanyi's approach enables us to view capitalism (the 'market society' in Polanyi's language) through a highly specific cultural fact: the fiction of the self-regulating market. This institutional perspective needs to be reassessed beyond new-institutionalist theoretical constructions

Capitalism · Economic system · Economics · Embeddedness · Epistemology · Institution · Institutional economics · Neoclassical economics · Perspective (graphical) · Phenomenon · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Social science · Sociology · Work (physics) · Economic Theory and Institutions · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Law · Political Economy and Marxism

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