"THE INTELLECTUAL FATHER OF THE INSTITUTIONALIST SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS"

VEBLEN, Thorstein. The Theory of Business Enterprise. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1904. Octavo, original burgundy cloth, top edge gilt, uncut. $1500.

First edition of this work on business cycles, by one of the most important American economists.

In The Theory of Business Enterprise, Veblen lays out an interpretation of the business cycle centering on the inevitability of expansion and contraction. "In sharp contrast to other economists writing on business cycles in the early 20th century, Veblen saw no tendencies for the economic system to equilibrate. Rather, he saw unending instability and oscillation. Any analysis of how economies reached an equilibrium was therefore unscientific according to Veblen. For economic analysis to be scientific, it had to focus on the evolutionary changes of institutions over time rather than on the way an economy moves to a static equilibrium point… Veblen was one of two or three best-known American economists in the early 20th century… As a result of [his] work, Veblen has become the intellectual father of the institutionalist school of economics" (Pressman, 90-91). Owner ink signatures to front pastedown and first leaf of Preface.

Just a touch of rubbing to spine ends and corners. A bright, fresh, clean copy, very nearly fine.