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I am greatly honored to introduce Professor Jon D. Wisman as the 2023 recipient of the Veblen-Commons Award. Jon's scholarship is in the area of heterodox economic thought (institutionalist theory) and economic methodology (Wisman [2], [5], [14], [15], [16]; Wisman and Rozansky [23]; Wisman and Smith [25]). But he has also tackled contemporary issues such as: nuclear war ([3]), income and wealth inequality (Wisman [8], [12] Wisman and Baker [19]; Wisman and Sawers [24]; Wisman and Smith [26]), workplace democracy and worker empowerment (Wisman [4]), state lotteries (fleecing the working poor) ([7]), the 2008 financial crisis ([10]), environmental devastation ([9]), the case for a federal job guarantee in the United States (Wisman [13]; Wisman and Pacitti [21]; Wisman and Reksten [22]; Wisman and Cauvel [20]) and even obesity (Wisman [11]). Wisman recalls his earlier discussion of the Kuznet's empirical argument that "inequality increases in the early stages of economic development, [but] beyond some point it can be expected to decrease" (Wisman [18], 351). [Extracted from the article]

Such policy activism would be supported by a state apparatus geared to its design and implementation, populated with suitably competent civil servants "smarter than the smartest captains of industry" (p. 192). Ultimately, what is prescribed demands of the state and those working within it a much more engaged and strategic role that does not simply correct market failure, but anticipates it by acknowledging markets' limitations. The authors put forward their recommendations within in a comprehensively reconstructed policy framework that rejects the simplistic and demonstrably wrong equation of learning with earning that lies at the heart of human capital theory and the policies it has inspired. [Extracted from the article]

Mark Granovetter has written a deep and wide-ranging book on economy and society entitled Society and Economy: Frameworks and Principles. Economists, in particular, will find his discussion on the role of social networks in understanding the problem of aggregation—from micro foundations to large-scale institutional phenomena—especially relevant. And they will find much to ponder over the ways in which overlapping structures—of networks and institutions—shape human behavior and determine aggregate economic outcomes. The high-level and parsimonious style of this book is distinctive and sets it apart from much of contemporary social science. This style and the apparent unwillingness to engage closely with research developments over the past two decades may, however, mean that the book will have limited influence on ongoing and future research. (JEL D02, D90, Z13) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]