Hodgson(H)bases his entire argument on a version of the Antinomian fallacy(see D H Fischer's Historian's Fallacies,1970,Harper and Row,pp.94-97).This fallacy infects all of H's work on the interface between macroeconomics and institutions.Briefly,the antinomian fallacy argues that all events in history are unique.All inductive generalizations are false.It is impossible to learn from experience.Thus,no general theories are possible in the social sciences or liberal arts since institutions are constantly evolving over time during each specific historical period.H's version of the antinomian fallacy is that all periods of history are unique(specific).Period replaces event.This type of fallacious argument is endemic among "Cambridge Keynesians"(Joan Robinson,G L S Shackle,Tony Lawson,Geoffrey Hodgson,Victoria Chick,etc.)and American Post Keynesians(P. Davidson,D.Vickers,etc.).H incorrectly claims that Keynes's correct analysis showing that,due to technological change,advance and innovation over time,the study of the determinates of fixed investment in long lived ,physical ,durable capital goods is not homogeneous over time means that"...Keynes is inconsistent since this implies that economic theory must be related to historically specific material."(Hodgson,p.223)This simply does not follow,which explains why Keynes correctly ignored the historicists and institutionalists when it came time to write his General Theory in 1936.This is because the problem of investing in costly, fixed ,industry specific capital(factories,plant and equipment,etc.),which is irreversible and irrevocable once it is in place,has been a major decision problem since the dawn of history.The threat of technological obsolescence to the presently existing stock of capital by future innovations has occurred in the past and present and will occur in the future.Of course,there will be similarities and dissimilarities in different periods of history.Keynes has a general theory that explains why the private capital stock in every period of history will be suboptimal.It is suboptimal because investment is suboptimal in the private sector due to the uncertainty,ambiguity(D. Ellsberg's term)or lack of evidential weight(Keynes's term)of a sufficient amount of information upon which to plan such projects over a multiperiod future.This insufficiency then leads to involuntary unemployment.Of course,all this is far beyond the intellectual grasp of H.A similar conclusion applies to V.Chick,who H approvingly cites:"Chick's argument underlines the fact that the General Theory was not,in truth,a general theory(since) it applied to a historically specific set of capitalistic institutions".(p.224).Chick's fallacious statement is a very good example of the antinomian fallacy .
