An Institutional Economist Goes to City Hall: A Sociological Study of the Legislative Process
The Instititutionalist tradition has a long and proud history of involvement with public policy. Reading the history of the Progressive Era one cannot help but be impressed with the degree of success economists of that era had in achieving their desired policy goals. Drawing upon the written experiences of these earlier policy makers within the Institutionalist tradition this work relates the experiences of the author as an elected official to a city legislature. In this paper, three specific policy actions are considered from a sociological perspective. These case studies reaffirm some tenets of institutional economics and suggest others.