Traditionally, economists have attributed consistency and rational calculation to the actions of `economic man'. In a challenge to orthodox thinking, Geoffrey Hodgson maintains that social institutions play a central and essential role in moulding preferences and guiding action: institutions are regarded as enabling action rather than merely providing constraints. From this perspective, the author takes on the `free marketeers' such as Milton Friedman and the `new institutionalism' of Oliver Williamson. He argues against the neo-classical and Austrian views of the operation of markets, offering instead a new synthesis of the work of Keynes, Veblen, Simon and Marx. Taking up the implications of his argument, Hodgson calls for a new policy perspective based on structural reform and institutional intervention.