...yet there also seems to be a lack of any new paradigm being readily accepted as arising to replace the mainstream. The state of alternative paradigms is one of a balkanized field of heterodox economists arguing over table scraps while the feast itself is left unguarded. This paper is an extension of Ron Stanfield's recent call for a movement toward an Evolutionary Economics that might unite divergent groups all claiming to be evolutionary.

Such an alternate vision requires an inquiry into the foundational thought of the differing factions to demonstrate the similarities that exist. In his recent address upon receiving the 2006 Veblen-Common's award, Stanfield (2006) argues that there are potential contributions arising from multiple areas including "socio-economics; behavioral economics and finance; game theoretic and experimental economics; and related studies in cognitive and self-psychology, economic sociology, anthropology and cultural geography." Stanfield comes from the Original Institutionalist tradition and in his remarks, he called upon that tradition to look into other areas. When discussing the roots of an evolutionary economic tradition, he listed several great thinkers. Stanfield emphasized the similarities about the individual in Veblen and Schumpeter's works and suggested that both are fundamental progenitors of an "Evolutionary Economics."

It is in the spirit of advancing an "Evolutionary Economics" that this paper offers an exploration into the socially embedded individual described by both Veblen and Schumpeter. There is an abundance of work done on the concept of the individual within economics; this volume of work would seem to be a useful starting point for an attempt to offer a unifying stream of ideas. John B. Davis (2003) has recently offered an extensive overview of the differing ideas about the individual in his book, The Theory of the Individual in Economics: Identity and Value (TEI). This article uses Davis' framework as a beginning.

The framework on the individual Davis creates provides a common language from which an analysis of Veblen and Schumpeter's individuals can be viewed. New Institutional economists argue that their intellectual heritage runs back to the thoughts of Schumpeter, whereas Original Institutional economists claim Veblen as one of their main intellectual progenitors. This paper shows that the concepts of the individual within these two authors' works are remarkably similar when looked at from the common framework laid out by Davis. Such similarity offers an intellectual commonality within the works of these two diverse heterodox groups. Commonalities are needed to show a mutual stream of ideas that underlay a unified "evolutionary" theory of economics. More importantly, such a demonstration will show that there can be a universal vision of an economic individual that will support a multiplicity of ideological viewpoints. In other words, this paper is written to show that an "Evolutionary Economic" theory need not be a monolithic ideological creation in the way some perceive current mainstream theory.

A Logical Framework

The Theory of the Individual in Economics (TEI) has received positive reviews from the institutional community. Yet, in many ways, the ideas discussed in Davis' book are only a starting point and further investigation needs to be undertaken. Davis created a framework that can be used to compare the ideas of other economists. Using this framework, we can observe the methods used by economists who have been influential in shaping this discipline.

TEI compares the conceptions of the individual entailed in mainstream and heterodox economics. Throughout the text, Davis focuses his attention on arguing the conceptions of the differing schools, thus grouping these ideas solely into the two large bodies, heterodox and mainstream. Davis (2003, 19) argues: "It is my view that different streams within orthodox and heterodox economics at bottom share the basic alternative views of the individual that I have set forth as broadly orthodox and heterodox. I thus leave it to others to demonstrate whether the conclusions here do or do not apply to other views of the theories."

This essay uses the TEI framework as a tool to clarify the similarity of ideas about the individual that appear in Veblen and Schumpeter. Such tools and observations will be important in creating a new "Evolutionary Economics," and convincing differing factions that they have similar visions. Davis' framework is a start on an important job that lies before economics as a discipline, and such a framework serves well in highlighting similarities heretofore unmentioned between the works of Veblen and Schumpeter.

Davis divides his book into two sections evaluating the conception of the individual as it appears in mainstream and heterodox economics. This article uses the description of the heterodox concept of the individual since its focus is to demonstrate commonalties in the views of Veblen and Schumpeter.

In his book, Davis restores a vision of the individual within economic thought that is relevant and logically consistent. He writes:

If we are to think that individuals are nonetheless important in economics, we need to produce arguments that somehow demonstrate that they retain some form of integrity as individual agents in spite of those forces operating upon them that either collapse them into groups or remove them from the scene altogether. That is, we need arguments that might justify our thinking that individuals possess at least a relatively independent identity. (2003, 14)

Economics has recently produced volumes of work questioning how the individual actually works. TEI brings together these discussions to create a framework that places the economic vision of the individual on firm theoretical footing. That footing has to be rooted in a vision of the individual that takes into consideration the arguments that individuals are products of society, and other arguments that suggest individuals are...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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