Hellerian Capitalism I: Characteristics and Conditions
Nicholas Roerich 'Everest' 1938 Why theorise capitalism? As Mallory said of Mount Everest, “because it’s there”. Today begins a new series titled The Economic Sociology of Capitalism . I will draw from a draft chapter that I sent to Peter Dougherty — chief editor at Princeton University Press — in October 2003 along with my book proposal. Unbeknown to me Dougherty was at that precise moment in continual communication with (1993 Nobel Prize winner) Douglass North while he prepared the manuscript of North's 2005 book with Princeton. All my submissions to publishers and journals were critical of Douglass North for ignoring the impersonality of modern institutions. Dougherty wrote to say he liked my proposal and encouraged me to send more chapters, which I could not do until 2006 when the manuscript was finished. I finally had it published with Routledge in 2009 as Capitalism, Institutions, and Economic Development . ...