Geoffrey M. Hodgson is a Research Professor in Business Studies at the University of Hertfordshire. He has published widely in the academic journals and his previous books include Economics and Utopia (Routledge, 1999)

Part I: Introduction;1: The Limitations of General Theory; 2: The Problem of Historical SpecificityPart II: The Nineteenth Century: The German Historical School and its Impact3: Karl Marx and the Specificity of the Capitalist System: 4: The Older Historical School in Germany; 5: The Historical School in the British Isles; 6: The Methodological Failure of the Older Historical School; 7: Out of Austria: Carl Menger and the Methodenstreit; 8: Alfred Marshall and the British Methodendiskurs; 9: The Responses of the Younger Historical School in GermanyPart III: The Twentieth Century: From American Institutionalism to the End of History10: Thorstein Veblen and the Foundations of Institutionalism; 11: Early American Institutionalism and the Problem of Historical Specificity; 12: The Theoretical Manifesto of John Commons; 13: Talcott Parsons and the Ascent of Ahistorical Sociology; 14: Death and Counter-Revolution at the London School of Economics; 15: John Maynard Keynes and his Declaration of a General Theory; 16: The Triumph of Barren Universality; 17: Institution Blindness and the End of HistoryPart IV: The Millennium: The Second Coming of History?18: Are there Universals in Social and Economic Theory?; 19: Property, Culture, Habits and Institutions; 20: Exchange and Production: Property and Firms; 21: A Note on Social Formations and Levels of Abstraction; 22: An Evolutionary Perspective on the Historical Problem; 23: Invention is Helpless without Tradition

In arguably his most important book to date, Hodgson calls into question the tendency of economic method to try and explain all economic phenomena by using the same catch-all theories and dealing in universal truths. He argues that you need different theories to analyze different economic phenomena and systems and that historical context must be taken into account.
Hodgson argues that the German Historical School was key in laying the foundations for the work of the pioneer institutional economists, who themselves are gaining currency today; and that the growing interest in this school of thought is contributing to a more complete understanding of socio-economic theory.