The paper reconstructs the Veblenian critique of the pecuniary economy from the perspective of Niklas Luhmann's theory of autopoietic social systems. Luhmann argued that social systems relieve people from the overwhelming civilizational complexity, but develop autopoietic properties hindering...

Analyzing four case studies on rural Poland during 1990–2005, this study shows how partnerships of local governments and civil society organizations provided public goods that boosted local economic development. By taking a comparative institutional economics perspective, we demonstrate how...