Where Marx was right: towards a more secure foundation for heterodox economics

Marx has never been very influential among Western economists, but the coll apse of all types of socialist movements has reinforced the belief that Mar x is irrelevant for economic analysis. At the same time, some heterodox eco nomists have claimed that neoclassical theory is sufficiently flexible to p rovide a foundation for post-Keynesians, institutionalists, evolutionary an d feminist economists. We argue that both conclusions are incorrect and tha t Marx's treatment of agents' choices and constraints, and of systemic coop eration and conflict, is far superior to that of orthodoxy in several cruci al respects and can provide a better grounding for non-neoclassical analyse s.