Karl Polanyi on the Limitations of Formalism in Economics

Abstract

This chapter examines Karl Polanyi's critique of formalism in economics and his case for a more institutional economics based upon a reconstitution of the facts of economic life on as wide an historical basis as possible. The argument below reviews Polanyi's argument with regard to the relation between economic anthropology and comparative economics, the contrast between the formalist and substantive approaches to economic analysis, the notion of an economistic fallacy, the most important limitations of the conventional formalist economics approach, and the nature and import of the new departure that Polanyi envisioned.

Citation

Stanfield, J.R., Carroll, M.C. and Wrenn, M.V. (2006), "Karl Polanyi on the Limitations of Formalism in Economics", Wood, D.C. (Ed.) Choice in Economic Contexts (Research in Economic Anthropology, Vol. 25), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 241-266. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0190-1281(06)25011-X