Three Short Stories of Progressive Institutional Change

Abstract:

The process of institutional change is a fundamental theme in institutional economics. There are multiple avenues for forging institutional change — policies, laws, cultural norms, social movements, and social practices. I analyze three examples of progressive institutional change. While there are many to choose from, the three short stories focus on: (i) accounting for measures of housework and care work in GDP; (ii) transforming legal values through adoption of marriage equality in the United States; and (iii) interrogating the fresh-tomatoes food supply chain in order to achieve a penny-a-pound more in earnings for migrant field workers. Each of these examples of progressive institutional change involves changing values, a cumulative process.

Keywords::

• discrimination
• household production
• institutional change
• marriage equality
• wages

JEL Classification Code::

• B5

Notes

¹ Four additional marches followed in 1987, 1993, 2000, and 2009.

² The couple was at the center of a 2009 documentary film, “Edie and Thea: A Very Long Engagement,” that was shown in film festivals around the world (these details are from Levy 2013 and Kaplan 2015).

³ Those interested in other features of the “fair food movement” — from growing to production to consumption — could read the books Fair Food by agronomist and Fair-Food-Network funder Oran Hesterman (2011), or Buying into Fair Trade by Keith Brown (2013).

⁴ Some consumers may remember the 1978 Buy-American, “Look-for-the-Union-Label” advertising campaign by the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union, which included a short song. Labeling products to encourage consumers to consider working conditions when making purchases dates back to progressive-era activism by the National Consumers’ League and garment workers unions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Deborah M. Figart

Deborah M. Figart is a distinguished professor of economics in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Stockton University. She thanks Lynne Chester, Elaine Ingulli, Ellen Mutari, and Linda Wharton for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article.