Fact and Fiction in Economics: Models, Realism and Social Construction

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511493317

There is an embarrassing polarization of opinions about the status of economics as an academic discipline, as reflected in epithets such as the Dismal Science and the Queen of the Social Sciences. This collection brings together some of the leading figures in the methodology and philosophy of economics to provide a thoughtful and balanced overview of the current state of debate about the nature and limits of economic knowledge. Authors with partly rival and partly complementary perspectives examine how abstract models work and how they might connect with the real world, they look at the special nature of the facts about the economy, and they direct attention towards the academic institutions themselves and how they shape economic research. These issues are thus analysed from the point of view of methodology, semantics, ontology, rhetoric, sociology, and economics of science.

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-vi
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Contents
pp vii-viii
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Notes on the contributors
pp ix-xiv
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Preface
pp xv-xvi
- By Uskali Mäki, Professor of Philosophy Erasmus University of Rotterdam
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I - Introduction
pp 1-2
- By Uskali Mäki, Professor of Philosophy of Science Erasmus University of Rotterdam
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1 - The dismal queen of the social sciences
pp 3-32
- By Uskali Mäki, Professor of Philosophy of Science Erasmus University of Rotterdam
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II - Setting the scene
pp 33-34
- By Uskali Mäki, Professor of Philosophy of Science Erasmus University of Rotterdam
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2 - Ugly currents in modern economics
pp 35-56
- By Mark Blaug, Professor Emeritus University of London and Buckingham University, UK; Visiting Professor of Economics University of Amsterdam; Erasmus University of Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Fellow British Academy; Foreign Honorary Member Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
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3 - Modern economics and its critics
pp 57-89
- By Partha Dasgupta, Professor of Economics University of Cambridge; Fellow St. John's College, Cambridge, UK
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4 - Some nonreasons for nonrealism about economics
pp 90-104
- By Uskali Mäki, Professor of Philosophy of Science Erasmus University of Rotterdam; Academic Director Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics (EIPE), The Netherlands
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III - Economic models and economic reality
pp 105-106
- By Uskali Mäki, Professor of Philosophy of Science Erasmus University of Rotterdam
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5 - Credible worlds: the status of theoretical models in economics
pp 107-136
- By Robert Sugden, Research Professor University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
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6 - The limits of causal order, from economics to physics
pp 137-151
- By Nancy Cartwright, Professor in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method London School of Economics, UK Department of Philosophy at the University of California, San Diego, USA; Fellow British Academy and of the American Academy of Arts and Science
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7 - Econometrics and reality
pp 152-177
- By Kevin D. Hoover, Professor of Economics University California, Davis, USA
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8 - Models, stories, and the economic world
pp 178-201
- By Mary S. Morgan, Professor of History of Economics London School of Economics UK; Professor of History and Philosophy of Economics University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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9 - Economic models and reality: the role of informal scientific methods
pp 202-213
- By Roger E. Backhouse, Professor of the History and Philosophy of Economics University of Birmingham, UK
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10 - Truthlikeness and economic theories
pp 214-228
- By Ilkka Niiniluoto
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IV - The constitution of economic reality
pp 229-230
- By Uskali Mäki, Professor of Philosophy of Science Erasmus University of Rotterdam
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11 - Rational choice, functional selection, and “empty black boxes”
pp 231-256
- By Philip Pettit, Professor of Social and Political Theory Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University
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12 - The reality of common cultures
pp 257-268
- By Shaun P. Hargreaves Heap, Teacher University of East Anglia, UK
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13 - Collective acceptance and collective attitudes: on the social construction of social reality
pp 269-284
- By Raimo Tuomela, Professor of Philosophy University of Helsinki, Finland, Wolfgang Balzer, Professor of Mathematical Logic and Philosophy of Science Universided of Munich
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14 - Hayek and cultural evolution
pp 285-303
- By Bruce Caldwell, Professor of Economics University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA
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15 - Putting evidence in its place: John Mill's early struggles with “facts in the concrete”
pp 304-326
- By Neil De Marchi, Professor of Economics Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
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V - The institutions of economics
pp 327-328
- By Uskali Mäki, Professor of Philosophy of Science Erasmus University of Rotterdam
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16 - You shouldn't want a realism if you have a rhetoric
pp 329-340
- By Deirdre N. McCloskey, Professor (2002–2006) of Economics, Philosophy, and Art and Cultural Studies Erasmus University of Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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17 - The more things change, the more they stay the same: social realism in contemporary science studies
pp 341-355
- By D. Wade Hands, Professor of Economics University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, USA
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18 - Economists: truth-seekers or rent-seekers?
pp 356-375
- By Jesús P. Zamora Bonilla, Associate Professor Universidad Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
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Index
pp 376-384
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Fact and Fiction in Economics

Models, Realism and Social Construction

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