Basel
1965–1976
Kapp’s holistic social-ecological theory of development with deep cultural roots in the humanities chimed with the pre-analytical vision of the notable political economist Edgar Salin who advocated for Kapp’s professorship at Basel University. At this centre of European humanism Kapp’s inaugural lecture resonated with the heyday of scientific socialist humanism and Weberianism. The lecture decries the dehumanization of social science and reality. It also proposes a rational humanism for economics (Kapp [1965] 1985) that acknowledges “human being as the measure of all things”.
In this manner Kapp linked his empirical development research with his work “Towards a Science of Man in Society – A Positive Approach to the Integration of Social Knowledge” (Kapp 1961). The main argument is that understanding human development in society requires countering the fragmentation of scientific knowledge and excessive specialization through the integration of the social sciences based on common denominator concepts, namely the bio-cultural concept of human being and culture. The aim is an empirical knowledge base from which social structures, institutions and values can be assessed in terms of their circular and cumulative effects on human flourishing.
Societal development is viewed as occurring through the appropriate satisfaction of basic human needs, including the actualization of potentials within the openness of human beings. The appropriate measure for human need satisfaction is thus portrayed as emanating from the Human itself. Failure to adhere to this measure incurs social opportunity costs in the form of failed human and societal development. Kapp (1961) drew mainly on empirical insights from social psychology, cultural anthropology, and sociology. Yet, he also viewed his basic human needs approach to social minima for purposes of in-kind calculations in social provisioning as consistent with Veblen’s distinction between basic and luxury needs as well as his institutional theory of conspicuous consumption (Kapp 2011).
At this time Kapp was not only invited into the steering committee of the Frankfurt School’s Institute for Social Research upon its return to Germany. He also developed plans for an international association for institutional economics together with Nobel laureate Gunnar Myrdal, which was to be hosted at the University of Stockholm with the goal to defend the intellectual project of institutional economics against the rise of formal economics (see also the editorial introduction and Appendix G in Kapp 2011).
The ensuing concerns about environmental disruption lead to the rediscovery of Kapp’s early work on social-ecological costs and his nomination to the preparatory committee for the first U.N. conference on Environment and Development in Stockholm in 1971. “Environmental Policies and Development Planning in Contemporary China And Other Essays” (Kapp 1974) showcases discussions of zero-waste and recycling policies, and proposes social-ecological indicators as indicators of social use values and alternatives to monetary growth indicators.
At this time Kapp was not only invited into the steering committee of the Frankfurt School’s Institute for Social Research upon its return to Germany. He also developed plans for an international association for institutional economics together with Nobel laureate Gunnar Myrdal, which was to be hosted at the University of Stockholm with the goal to defend the intellectual project of institutional economics against the rise of formal economics (see also the editorial introduction and Appendix G in Kapp 2011).
The ensuing concerns about environmental disruption lead to the rediscovery of Kapp’s early work on social-ecological costs and his nomination to the preparatory committee for the first U.N. conference on Environment and Development in Stockholm in 1971. “Environmental Policies and Development Planning in Contemporary China And Other Essays” (Kapp 1974) showcases discussions of zero-waste and recycling policies, and proposes social-ecological indicators as indicators of social use values and alternatives to monetary growth indicators.
ca. 1975In this work Kapp further enriched the notion of development as open system by incorporating the entropy law as its bioeconomic foundation from Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen’s seminal work The Entropy Law and the Economic Process (1971), culminating in “The Open System Character of the Economy and Its Implications” (1976a).
Research conducted as head of a German ministerial commission under the new social-liberal government suggests paths for the “Governmental Furtherance of Environmentally Friendly Technologies” (Appendix E in Kapp 2011). As in previous work the emphasis is on the central State’s role in providing systemic institutional prerequisites and in dissolving blockages for widespread adoption of green technologies. This is viewed as a development strategy that yields social benefits by meeting social-ecological minima and preventing social damages. Nevertheless, Kapp combined centralism with democratic mechanisms for citizen participation at the local level. His last published article on “Development and Environment” (1976b) is characteristic of this late work by elaborating on technologies supportive of socio-ecological development, namely those running on renewable resources and with lower capital intensity.
In sum, Kapp strengthened the humanist and social-ecological focus of the radical and critical strands within institutional economics. He did so by insisting on substantive rationality as democratic social provisioning for basic human needs based on in-kind calculations and as alternative to the formal rationality of the market calculus promoted by neoclassical and (neo)liberal economics.
References ︎︎︎
Research conducted as head of a German ministerial commission under the new social-liberal government suggests paths for the “Governmental Furtherance of Environmentally Friendly Technologies” (Appendix E in Kapp 2011). As in previous work the emphasis is on the central State’s role in providing systemic institutional prerequisites and in dissolving blockages for widespread adoption of green technologies. This is viewed as a development strategy that yields social benefits by meeting social-ecological minima and preventing social damages. Nevertheless, Kapp combined centralism with democratic mechanisms for citizen participation at the local level. His last published article on “Development and Environment” (1976b) is characteristic of this late work by elaborating on technologies supportive of socio-ecological development, namely those running on renewable resources and with lower capital intensity.
In sum, Kapp strengthened the humanist and social-ecological focus of the radical and critical strands within institutional economics. He did so by insisting on substantive rationality as democratic social provisioning for basic human needs based on in-kind calculations and as alternative to the formal rationality of the market calculus promoted by neoclassical and (neo)liberal economics.
References ︎︎︎
the Kapps ca 1965
dinner with visiting scholars from Japan
ca. 1970
certificate of appointment to Full Professor, University of Basel 1964
hiking in Switzerland ca 1970
in Zurich ca. 1973