Making economics more relevant

An interview with Geoffrey Hodgson

Authors

  • Geoffrey M. Hodgson University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.23941/ejpe.v3i2.56

Keywords:

Geoffrey Hodgson, institutional economics, generalized Darwinism, evolutionary economics, informal economics, pluralism

Abstract

During a visit to Erasmus University Rotterdam in November 2009 Professor Hodgson granted the Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics the opportunity to discuss many of these issues extensively. The interview ranged widely over such topics as the relationship between institutional and neoclassical economics; the methodological challenges in institutional economics; the potential role of biological and evolutionary ideas in the social sciences; and the role of economics and economists in the recent economic crisis and how the profession should change.

Author Biography

Geoffrey M. Hodgson, University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

Geoffrey M. Hodgson (Watford, England, 1946) is research professor at the University of Hertfordshire Business School, UK. He is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Institutional Economics and a member of the Academy of Social Sciences in the UK. He has published over 120 articles in academic journals and his books include Economics and institutions (1988), Economics and evolution (1993), Economics and utopia (1999), How economics forgot history (2001), The evolution of institutional economics (2004), and (with Thorbjørn Knudsen) Darwin’s conjecture: the search for general principles of social and economic evolution (2010).

Professor Hodgson is widely known for his extensive work on institutional economics, and his numerous contributions to a broad variety of topics in heterodox economics and social theory. His current research focuses on the theoretical and methodological foundations of institutional and evolutionary economics. In particular he is interested in the application of Darwinian principles to socio-economic evolution, the conditions underlying increasing socio-economic complexity, and the impact of increasing complexity in capitalist development.

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Published

2010-11-14

How to Cite

Hodgson, G. M. (2010). Making economics more relevant: An interview with Geoffrey Hodgson. Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics, 3(2), 72–94. https://doi.org/10.23941/ejpe.v3i2.56

Issue

Section

Interviews