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| economics is not science: How Economics Shapes Science Paula Stephan, 2015-09-07 The beauty of science may be pure and eternal, but the practice of science costs money. And scientists, being human, respond to incentives and costs, in money and glory. Choosing a research topic, deciding what papers to write and where to publish them, sticking with a familiar area or going into something new—the payoff may be tenure or a job at a highly ranked university or a prestigious award or a bump in salary. The risk may be not getting any of that. At a time when science is seen as an engine of economic growth, Paula Stephan brings a keen understanding of the ongoing cost-benefit calculations made by individuals and institutions as they compete for resources and reputation. She shows how universities offload risks by increasing the percentage of non-tenure-track faculty, requiring tenured faculty to pay salaries from outside grants, and staffing labs with foreign workers on temporary visas. With funding tight, investigators pursue safe projects rather than less fundable ones with uncertain but potentially path-breaking outcomes. Career prospects in science are increasingly dismal for the young because of ever-lengthening apprenticeships, scarcity of permanent academic positions, and the difficulty of getting funded. Vivid, thorough, and bold, How Economics Shapes Science highlights the growing gap between the haves and have-nots—especially the vast imbalance between the biomedical sciences and physics/engineering—and offers a persuasive vision of a more productive, more creative research system that would lead and benefit the world. |
| economics is not science: Why Economics is Not Yet a Science Alfred S. Eicher, 2019-11-14 First published in 1983. A collection of papers directed at those outside the field of Economics, to open up discussions around the scientific worth of Economics. |
| economics is not science: Economics as a Social Science Andrew M. Kamarck, 2009-04-21 Economics as a Social Science is a highly readable critique of economic theory, based on a wide range of research, that endeavors to restore economics to its proper role as a social science. Contrary to conventional economic theory, which assumes that people have no free will, this book instead bases economics on the realistic assumption that human beings can choose; that we are complex beings affected by emotion, custom, habit, and reason; and that our behavior varies with circumstances and times. It embraces the findings of history, psychology, and other social sciences and the insights from great literature on human behavior as opposed to the rigidity set by mathematical axioms that define how economics is understood and practiced today. Andrew M. Kamarck demonstrates that only rough accuracy is attainable in economic measurement, and that understanding an economy requires knowledge from other disciplines. The canonical hypotheses of economics (perfect rationality, self-interest, equilibrium) are shown to be inadequate (and in the case of equilibrium to be counterproductive to understanding the forces that dominate the economy), and more satisfactory assumptions provided. The market is shown to work imperfectly and to require appropriate institutions to perform its function reasonably well. Further, Kamarck argues that self-interest does not always lead to helping the general interest. Economics as a Social Science examines and revises the fundamental assumptions of economics. Because it avoids jargon and explains terms carefully, it will be of interest to economics majors as well as to graduate students of economics and other social sciences, and social scientists working in government and the private sector. Andrew M. Kamarck is former Director, Economic Development Institute, the World Bank. |
| economics is not science: Apocalypse Not Ben W. Bolch, Harold Lyons, 1993 What is likely to kill off the human race first? Overpopulation? Global warming? Ozone depletion? Chemicals and insecticides? Would you believe none of these? Drawing on scientific evidence, Ben Bolch and Harold Lyons, an economist and a chemist, show that the prophets of apocalyptic doom mislead and scare the public with their warnings of impending catastrophes. Apocalypse Not debunks the alleged global threats to mankind, as well as the scares about asbestos and radon. It fosters respect for calm, objective science, while showing that the doomsday lobbyists exploit ignorance and cause hysteria. Bolch and Lyons go on to show that, contrary to the beliefs of some environmentalists, modern society and the growth in population do not threaten our quality of life. In fact, science and industry have enabled more people to live longer, healthier lives than ever before. Resources are cheaper and more plentiful than anytime in history. In light of those facts, the authors take up the perplexing question of why the environmental movement, with its apparent death wish, has been able to persuade so many people that the human race is doomed. Their answer to that question could help turn the tide that threatens to undo the industrial and scientific revolutions. This book is the book that will restore good sense to thinking about the environment. |
| economics is not science: The Unity of Science and Economics Jing Chen, 2015-11-06 This book presents a new economic theory developed from physical and biological principles. It explains how technology, social systems and economic values are intimately related to resources. Many people have recognized that mainstream (neoclassical) economic theories are not consistent with physical laws and often not consistent with empirical patterns, but most feel that economic activities are too complex to be described by a simple and coherent mathematical theory. While social systems are indeed complex, all life systems, including social systems, satisfy two principles. First, all systems need to extract resources from the external environment to compensate for their consumption. Second, for a system to be viable, the amount of resource extraction has to be no less than the level of consumption. From these two principles, we derive a quantitative theory of major factors in economic activities, such as fixed cost, variable cost, discount rate, uncertainty and duration. The mathematical theory enables us to systematically measure the effectiveness of different policies and institutional structures at varying levels of resource abundance and cost.The theory presented in this book shows that there do not exist universally optimal policies or institutional structures. Instead, the impacts of different policies or social structures have to be measured within the context of existing levels of resource abundance. As the physical costs of extracting resources rise steadily, many policy assumptions adopted in mainstream economic theories, and workable in times of cheap and abundant energy supplies and other resources, need to be reconsidered. In this rapidly changing world, the theory presented here provides a solid foundation for examining the long-term impacts of today's policy decisions. |
| economics is not science: How Economics Became a Mathematical Science E. Roy Weintraub, 2002-05-28 In How Economics Became a Mathematical Science E. Roy Weintraub traces the history of economics through the prism of the history of mathematics in the twentieth century. As mathematics has evolved, so has the image of mathematics, explains Weintraub, such as ideas about the standards for accepting proof, the meaning of rigor, and the nature of the mathematical enterprise itself. He also shows how economics itself has been shaped by economists’ changing images of mathematics. Whereas others have viewed economics as autonomous, Weintraub presents a different picture, one in which changes in mathematics—both within the body of knowledge that constitutes mathematics and in how it is thought of as a discipline and as a type of knowledge—have been intertwined with the evolution of economic thought. Weintraub begins his account with Cambridge University, the intellectual birthplace of modern economics, and examines specifically Alfred Marshall and the Mathematical Tripos examinations—tests in mathematics that were required of all who wished to study economics at Cambridge. He proceeds to interrogate the idea of a rigorous mathematical economics through the connections between particular mathematical economists and mathematicians in each of the decades of the first half of the twentieth century, and thus describes how the mathematical issues of formalism and axiomatization have shaped economics. Finally, How Economics Became a Mathematical Science reconstructs the career of the economist Sidney Weintraub, whose relationship to mathematics is viewed through his relationships with his mathematician brother, Hal, and his mathematician-economist son, the book’s author. |
| economics is not science: Economic Theory and Cognitive Science Don Ross, 2007-01-26 In this study, Don Ross explores the relationship of economics to other branches of behavioral science, asking, in the course of his analysis, under what interpretation economics is a sound empirical science. The book explores the relationships between economic theory and the theoretical foundations of related disciplines that are relevant to the day-to-day work of economics—the cognitive and behavioral sciences. It asks whether the increasingly sophisticated techniques of microeconomic analysis have revealed any deep empirical regularities—whether technical improvement represents improvement in any other sense. Casting Daniel Dennett and Kenneth Binmore as its intellectual heroes, the book proposes a comprehensive model of economic theory that, Ross argues, does not supplant, but recovers the core neoclassical insights, and counters the caricaturish conception of neoclassicism so derided by advocates of behavioral or evolutionary economics. Because he approaches his topic from the viewpoint of the philosophy of science, Ross devotes one chapter to the philosophical theory and terminology on which his argument depends and another to related philosophical issues. Two chapters provide the theoretical background in economics, one covering developments in neoclassical microeconomics and the other treating behavioral and experimental economics and evolutionary game theory. The three chapters at the heart of the argument then apply theses from the philosophy of cognitive science to foundational problems for economic theory. In these chapters, economists will find a genuinely new way of thinking about the implications of cognitive science for economics, and cognitive scientists will find in economic behavior, a new testing site for the explanations of cognitive science. |
| economics is not science: Economics Rules: The Rights and Wrongs of the Dismal Science Dani Rodrik, 2015-10-13 “A hugely valuable contribution. . . . In setting out a defence of the best in economics, Rodrik has also provided a goal for the discipline as a whole.” —Martin Sandbu, Financial Times In the wake of the financial crisis and the Great Recession, economics seems anything but a science. In this sharp, masterfully argued book, Dani Rodrik, a leading critic from within, takes a close look at economics to examine when it falls short and when it works, to give a surprisingly upbeat account of the discipline. Drawing on the history of the field and his deep experience as a practitioner, Rodrik argues that economics can be a powerful tool that improves the world—but only when economists abandon universal theories and focus on getting the context right. Economics Rules argues that the discipline's much-derided mathematical models are its true strength. Models are the tools that make economics a science. Too often, however, economists mistake a model for the model that applies everywhere and at all times. In six chapters that trace his discipline from Adam Smith to present-day work on globalization, Rodrik shows how diverse situations call for different models. Each model tells a partial story about how the world works. These stories offer wide-ranging, and sometimes contradictory, lessons—just as children’s fables offer diverse morals. Whether the question concerns the rise of global inequality, the consequences of free trade, or the value of deficit spending, Rodrik explains how using the right models can deliver valuable new insights about social reality and public policy. Beyond the science, economics requires the craft to apply suitable models to the context. The 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers challenged many economists' deepest assumptions about free markets. Rodrik reveals that economists' model toolkit is much richer than these free-market models. With pragmatic model selection, economists can develop successful antipoverty programs in Mexico, growth strategies in Africa, and intelligent remedies for domestic inequality. At once a forceful critique and defense of the discipline, Economics Rules charts a path toward a more humble but more effective science. |
| economics is not science: Economics Rules Dani Rodrik, 2015 A leading economist trains a lens on his own discipline to uncover when it fails and when it works. |
| economics is not science: What’s Wrong with Economics? Robert Skidelsky, 2020-04-28 A passionate and informed critique of mainstream economics from one of the leading economic thinkers of our time This insightful book looks at how mainstream economics’ quest for scientific certainty has led to a narrowing of vision and a convergence on an orthodoxy that is unhealthy for the field, not to mention the societies which base policy decisions on the advice of flawed economic models. Noted economic thinker Robert Skidelsky explains the circumstances that have brought about this constriction and proposes an approach to economics which includes philosophy, history, sociology, and politics. Skidelsky’s clearly written and compelling critique takes aim at the way that economics is taught in today’s universities, where a focus on modelling leaves students ill-equipped to grapple with what is important and true about human life. He argues for a return to the ideal set out by John Maynard Keynes that the economist must be a “mathematician, historian, statesman, [and] philosopher” in equal measure. |
| economics is not science: The Economics of Science James R Wible, 2003-09-02 Science is difficult and costly to do well. This study systematically creates an economics of science. Many aspects of science are explored from an economic point of view. The scientist is treated as an economically rational individual. This book begins with economic models of misconduct in science and the legitimate, normal practices of science, moving on to market failure, the market place of ideas, self-correctiveness, and the organizational and institutional structures of science. An exploration of broader methodological themes raised by an economics of science ends the work. |
| economics is not science: Economics As a Science of Human Behaviour Bruno S. Frey, 2013-06-29 This book champions the view that economics is a social science, and that, moreover, it may serve as a new paradigm for the social sciences. Economics is taken to be part of those sciences which deal with actual problems of society by providing insights, improving our understanding and suggesting solutions. I am aware that the way problems are addressed here has little in common with economics as it is generally understood today; most economists make strong efforts to imitate the exact sciences. Economics tends to become a branch of applied mathematics; the majority of all publications in professional journals and books are full of axioms, lemmas and proofs, and they are much concerned with purely formal deductions. Often, when the results are translated into verbal language, or when they are applied empirically, disappointingly little of interest remains. The book wants to show that another type of economics exists which is surprisingly little known. This type of economics has its own particular point of view. It centres on a concept of man, or a model of human behaviour, which differs from those normally used in other social sciences such as sociology, political science, law, or psychology. I do not, how ever, claim that economics is the only legitimate social science. On the vii viii PREFACE contrary, economics can provide useful insights only in collaboration with the other social sciences-an aspect which has been disregarded by mathematically oriented economics. |
| economics is not science: Economics as an Evolutionary Science Anna Sachko Gandolfi, 2018-02-06 Economics is traditionally taken to be the social science concerned with the production, consumption, exchange, and distribution of wealth and commodities. Economists carefully track the comings and goings of the human household, whether written small (microeconomics) or large (macroeconomics) and attempt to predict future patterns under different situations. However, in constructing their models of economic behavior, economists often lose sight of the actual characteristics and motivations of their human subjects. In consequence, they have found the goal of an explanatory and predictive science to be elusive. Economics as an Evolutionary Science reorients economics toward a more direct appreciation of human nature, with an emphasis on what we have learned from recent advances in evolutionary science. The authors integrate economics and evolution to produce a social science that is rigorous, internally coherent, testable, and consistent with the natural sciences. The authors suggest an expanded definition of fitness, as in Darwin's survival of the fittest, emphasizing not only the importance of reproduction and the quality of offspring, but also the unique ability of humans to provide material wealth to their children. The book offers a coherent explanation for the recent decline in fertility, which is shown to be consistent with the evolutionary goal of maximizing genetic success. In addition, the authors demonstrate the relevance to economics of several core concepts derived from biologists, including the genetics of parent-offspring conflict, inclusive fitness theory, and the phenomena of R-selection and K-selection. The keystone of their presentation is a cogent critique of the traditional concept of utility. As the authors demonstrate, the concept can be modified to reflect the fundamental evolutionary principle whereby living things-including human beings-have been selected to behave in a manner that maximizes their genetic representation in future generations. Despite the extraordinary interest in applying evolutionary biology to other disciplines, Economics as an Evolutionary Science marks the first major attempt at a synthesis of biology and economics. Scholarly yet accessible, this volume offers unique and original perspectives on an entire discipline. |
| economics is not science: Economics--Mathematical Politics Or Science of Diminishing Returns? Alexander Rosenberg, 1992 Economics will never be able to move beyond these vague predictions because it treats human behavior - individual and social - as the product of expectations and preferences - beliefs and desires - the variables that cannot be measured independently of the actual choices we want to predict. These factors, combined with the economist's commitment to the search for equilibrium solutions to theoretical problems, condemn economic theory to permanent predictive weakness. In the end, Rosenberg's analysis is not merely a critique. His aim is to redefine the scope and value of neoclassical theory, suggesting that its character and most important accomplishments need to be correctly understood to defend economics against the charge that it is a science of diminishing returns.--BOOK JACKET. |
| economics is not science: Economic Ideas You Should Forget Bruno S. Frey, David Iselin, 2017-03-08 Reporting on cutting-edge advances in economics, this book presents a selection of commentaries that reveal the weaknesses of several core economics concepts. Economics is a vigorous and progressive science, which does not lose its force when particular parts of its theory are empirically invalidated; instead, they contribute to the accumulation of knowledge. By discussing problematic theoretical assumptions and drawing on the latest empirical research, the authors question specific hypotheses and reject major economic ideas from the “Coase Theorem” to “Say’s Law” and “Bayesianism.” Many of these ideas remain prominent among politicians, economists and the general public. Yet, in the light of the financial crisis, they have lost both their relevance and supporting empirical evidence. This fascinating and thought-provoking collection of 71 short essays written by respected economists and social scientists from all over the world will appeal to anyone interested in scientific progress and the further development of economics. |
| economics is not science: The Economics of Artificial Intelligence Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, Avi Goldfarb, Catherine Tucker, 2024-03-05 A timely investigation of the potential economic effects, both realized and unrealized, of artificial intelligence within the United States healthcare system. In sweeping conversations about the impact of artificial intelligence on many sectors of the economy, healthcare has received relatively little attention. Yet it seems unlikely that an industry that represents nearly one-fifth of the economy could escape the efficiency and cost-driven disruptions of AI. The Economics of Artificial Intelligence: Health Care Challenges brings together contributions from health economists, physicians, philosophers, and scholars in law, public health, and machine learning to identify the primary barriers to entry of AI in the healthcare sector. Across original papers and in wide-ranging responses, the contributors analyze barriers of four types: incentives, management, data availability, and regulation. They also suggest that AI has the potential to improve outcomes and lower costs. Understanding both the benefits of and barriers to AI adoption is essential for designing policies that will affect the evolution of the healthcare system. |
| economics is not science: Cogs and Monsters Diane Coyle, 2021-10-12 How economics needs to change to keep pace with the twenty-first century and the digital economy Digital technology, big data, big tech, machine learning, and AI are revolutionizing both the tools of economics and the phenomena it seeks to measure, understand, and shape. In Cogs and Monsters, Diane Coyle explores the enormous problems—but also opportunities—facing economics today and examines what it must do to help policymakers solve the world’s crises, from pandemic recovery and inequality to slow growth and the climate emergency. Mainstream economics, Coyle says, still assumes people are “cogs”—self-interested, calculating, independent agents interacting in defined contexts. But the digital economy is much more characterized by “monsters”—untethered, snowballing, and socially influenced unknowns. What is worse, by treating people as cogs, economics is creating its own monsters, leaving itself without the tools to understand the new problems it faces. In response, Coyle asks whether economic individualism is still valid in the digital economy, whether we need to measure growth and progress in new ways, and whether economics can ever be objective, since it influences what it analyzes. Just as important, the discipline needs to correct its striking lack of diversity and inclusion if it is to be able to offer new solutions to new problems. Filled with original insights, Cogs and Monsters offers a road map for how economics can adapt to the rewiring of society, including by digital technologies, and realize its potential to play a hugely positive role in the twenty-first century. |
| economics is not science: Toward a Formal Science of Economics Bernt P. Stigum, 1990 Consumer Law and Practice provides undergraduate students and those studying the LPC with concise yet comprehensive guidance. It is also a useful aid for practitioners (including those advising businesses) and non-lawyers requiring information which can be quickly understood. Using an innovative problem-solving approach to the subject, we focus on situations in which clients may find themselves and explain how the law deals with such situations. Between the covers is a mine of information clearly and accurately set out ... a valuable tool for non-specialist and specialist alike. The Law Society's Gazette |
| economics is not science: Philosophy of Economics Uskali Mäki, 2012-06-12 Part of the Handbook of the Philosophy of Science Series edited by: Dov M. Gabbay King's College, London, UK; Paul Thagard University of Waterloo, Canada; and John Woods University of British Columbia, Canada. Philosophy of Economics investigates the foundational concepts and methods of economics, the social science that analyzes the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. This groundbreaking collection, the most thorough treatment of the philosophy of economics ever published, brings together philosophers, scientists and historians to map out the central topics in the field. The articles are divided into two groups. Chapters in the first group deal with various philosophical issues characteristic of economics in general, including realism and Lakatos, explanation and testing, modeling and mathematics, political ideology and feminist epistemology. Chapters in the second group discuss particular methods, theories and branches of economics, including forecasting and measurement, econometrics and experimentation, rational choice and agency issues, game theory and social choice, behavioral economics and public choice, geographical economics and evolutionary economics, and finally the economics of scientific knowledge. This volume serves as a detailed introduction for those new to the field as well as a rich source of new insights and potential research agendas for those already engaged with the philosophy of economics. Provides a bridge between philosophy and current scientific findings Encourages multi-disciplinary dialogue Covers theory and applications |
| economics is not science: The Dismal Science Stephen A. Marglin, 2008 See Stephen Marglin on the Future of Capitalism at FORA.tv. Economists celebrate the market as a device for regulating human interaction without acknowledging that their enthusiasm depends on a set of half-truths: that individuals are autonomous, self-interested, and rational calculators with unlimited wants and that the only community that matters is the nation-state. However, as Stephen Marglin argues, market relationships erode community. In the past, for example, when a farm family experienced a setback--say the barn burned down--neighbors pitched in. Now a farmer whose barn burns down turns, not to his neighbors, but to his insurance company. Insurance may be a more efficient way to organize resources than a community barn raising, but the deep social and human ties that are constitutive of community are weakened by the shift from reciprocity to market relations. Marglin dissects the ways in which the foundational assumptions of economics justify a world in which individuals are isolated from one another and social connections are impoverished as people define themselves in terms of how much they can afford to consume. Over the last four centuries, this economic ideology has become the dominant ideology in much of the world. Marglin presents an account of how this happened and an argument for righting the imbalance in our lives that this ideology has fostered. |
| economics is not science: Debunking Economics Steve Keen, 2001-07-28 What is the score card for economics at the start of the new millennium? While there are many different schools of economic thought, it is the neo-classical school, with its alleged understanding and simplistic advocacy of the market, that has become equated in the public mind with economics. This book shows that virtually every aspect of conventional neo-classical economics' thinking is intellectually unsound. Steve Keen draws on an impressive array of advanced critical thinking. He constitutes a profound critique of the principle concepts, theories, and methodologies of the mainstream discipline. Keen raises grave doubts about economics' pretensions to established scientific status and its reliability as a guide to understanding the real world of economic life and its policy-making. |
| economics is not science: Good Economics for Hard Times Abhijit V. Banerjee, Esther Duflo, 2019-11-12 The winners of the Nobel Prize show how economics, when done right, can help us solve the thorniest social and political problems of our day. Figuring out how to deal with today's critical economic problems is perhaps the great challenge of our time. Much greater than space travel or perhaps even the next revolutionary medical breakthrough, what is at stake is the whole idea of the good life as we have known it. Immigration and inequality, globalization and technological disruption, slowing growth and accelerating climate change--these are sources of great anxiety across the world, from New Delhi and Dakar to Paris and Washington, DC. The resources to address these challenges are there--what we lack are ideas that will help us jump the wall of disagreement and distrust that divides us. If we succeed, history will remember our era with gratitude; if we fail, the potential losses are incalculable. In this revolutionary book, renowned MIT economists Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo take on this challenge, building on cutting-edge research in economics explained with lucidity and grace. Original, provocative, and urgent, Good Economics for Hard Times makes a persuasive case for an intelligent interventionism and a society built on compassion and respect. It is an extraordinary achievement, one that shines a light to help us appreciate and understand our precariously balanced world. |
| economics is not science: Entrepreneurial Economics Alexander Tabarrok, 2002 This intriguing collection is designed to show how economists can play a more active role in designing and directing the nation's social institutions. By taking the task of political economy seriously, the contributors (including some of today's most distinguished economists) reveal the power of economic thought to offer innovative solutions to some of the most difficult problems facing society today. By creating markets where none existed before, the authors propose efficient, reliable, and profitable improvements to current systems of health insurance, financial markets, human organ distribution, judicial practice, bankruptcy and securities regulation, patenting, and transportation. Written in the entrepreneurial spirit, these essays show economics to be an ambitious, dynamic, and far-from-dismal science. |
| economics is not science: The Nobel Factor Avner Offer, Gabriel Söderberg, 2019-11-19 Economic theory may be speculative, but its impact is powerful and real. Since the 1970s, it has been closely associated with a sweeping change around the world--the market turn. This is what Avner Offer and Gabriel Soderberg call the rise of market liberalism, a movement that, seeking to replace social democracy, holds up buying and selling as the norm for human relations and society. Our confidence in markets comes from economics, and our confidence in economics is underpinned by the Nobel Prize in Economics, which was first awarded in 1969. Was it a coincidence that the market turn and the prize began at the same time? The Nobel Factor, the first book to describe the origins and power of the most important prize in economics, explores this and related questions by examining the history of the prize, the history of economics since the prize began, and the simultaneous struggle between market liberals and social democrats in Sweden, Europe, and the United States. The Nobel Factor tells how the prize, created by the Swedish central bank, emerged from a conflict between central bank orthodoxy and social democracy. The aim was to use the halo of the Nobel brand to enhance central bank authority and the prestige of market-friendly economics, in order to influence the future of Sweden and the rest of the developed world. And this strategy has worked, with sometimes disastrous results for societies striving to cope with the requirements of economic theory and deregulated markets |
| economics is not science: 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology Scott O. Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, John Ruscio, Barry L. Beyerstein, 2011-09-15 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology uses popular myths as a vehicle for helping students and laypersons to distinguish science from pseudoscience. Uses common myths as a vehicle for exploring how to distinguish factual from fictional claims in popular psychology Explores topics that readers will relate to, but often misunderstand, such as 'opposites attract', 'people use only 10% of their brains', and 'handwriting reveals your personality' Provides a 'mythbusting kit' for evaluating folk psychology claims in everyday life Teaches essential critical thinking skills through detailed discussions of each myth Includes over 200 additional psychological myths for readers to explore Contains an Appendix of useful Web Sites for examining psychological myths Features a postscript of remarkable psychological findings that sound like myths but that are true Engaging and accessible writing style that appeals to students and lay readers alike |
| economics is not science: The Inexact and Separate Science of Economics Daniel M. Hausman, 2023-05-31 A comprehensive overview of theoretical economics, its distinctive modeling strategy, applicability, and empirical support. |
| economics is not science: Complexity and the Economy W. Brian Arthur, 2015 A collection of previous published papers by the author on the subject of complexity economics, appearing from the 1980s to the present. |
| economics is not science: The Limits of Economic Science R.B. McKenzie, 1982-12-31 The essays in this volume were a challenge to me to write. I am an economist to the core, inclined to evaluate most observed behavior and public policies with conventional neoclassical theory. The essays represent my attempt to come to grips with the meaning and importance of what I try to do as a professional economist. They reflect my attempt to acquire a new and improved understanding of the usefulness and limitations of the writings of professional economists, especially my own. In this regard, although I hope others will find the thoughts useful, the volume represents a personal statement of how one economist views his and others' work. For that reason the discussion is often openly normative, tinged with the conviction that social discourse is more than costs and benefits and that economics cannot be fully evaluated by the methods - economic methods - that are the subject of the evaluation. These essays could not have been written without considerable encouragement and help from colleagues and friends. The following people are recognized for having read one or more chapters and for having contributed critical, substantive comments: Diana Bailey, Wilfred Beckerman, Geoffrey Brennan, William Briet, James Buchanan, Delores Martin, David Maxwell, Mary Ann McKenzie, Warren Samuels, Robert Staaf, Richard Wagner, Karen Vaughn, and Bruce Yandle. I am very much in their debt. However, they should not be held accountable for any of the positions taken and any errors that may remain. |
| economics is not science: The Financial Crisis of 2008 Barrie A. Wigmore, 2021-11-04 Supported by ten years of research, Wigmore has gathered extensive data covering the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent recovery to provide the first comprehensive history of the period. Financial crises cannot occur unless institutional investors finance the bubbles that created them. Wigmore follows the trail of data putting pressure on institutional investors to achieve higher levels of returns that led to over-leverage throughout the financial system and placed such a burden on recovery. Here is a 'very good picture - and painful reminder - of the crisis' evolution across multiple asset classes, structures, participants, and geographies.' This work serves as a critical analysis of modern portfolio management and an important reference work for financial professionals, academics, investors, and students. |
| economics is not science: The Soulful Science Diane Coyle, 2009-12-07 For many, Thomas Carlyle's put-down of economics as the dismal science rings true--especially in the aftermath of the crash of 2008. But Diane Coyle argues that economics today is more soulful than dismal, a more practical and human science than ever before. The Soulful Science describes the remarkable creative renaissance in economics, how economic thinking is being applied to the paradoxes of everyday life. This revised edition incorporates the latest developments in the field, including the rise of behavioral finance, the failure of carbon trading, and the growing trend of government bailouts. She also discusses such major debates as the relationship between economic statistics and presidential elections, the boundary between private choice and public action, and who is to blame for today's banking crisis. |
| economics is not science: Economics and the Philosophy of Science Deborah A. Redman, 1993 Economists and other social scientists in this century have often supported economic arguments by referring to positions taken by philosophers of science. This important new book looks at the reliability of this practice and--in the process--provides economists, social scientists, and historians with the necessary background to discuss methodological matters with authority. Redman presents an accurate, critical, yet neutral survey of the modern philosophy of science from the Vienna Circle to the present, focusing particularly on logical positivism, sociological explanations of science (Polanyi, Fleck, Kuhn), the Popper family, and the history of science. She then deals with economic methodology in the twentieth century, looking at a wide range of methodological positions, especially those supported by positions from the philosophy of science. |
| economics is not science: The Economics of Big Science Hans Peter Beck, Panagiotis Charitos, 2020-10-29 The essays in this open access volume identify the key ingredients for success in capitalizing on public investments in scientific projects and the development of large-scale research infrastructures. Investment in science – whether in education and training or through public funding for developing new research tools and technologies – is a crucial priority. Authors from big research laboratories/organizations, funding agencies and academia discuss how investing in science can produce societal benefits as well as identifying future challenges for scientists and policy makers. The volume cites different ways to assess the socio-economic impact of Research Infrastructures and their role as hubs of global collaboration, creativity and innovation. It highlights the different benefits stemming from fundamental research at the local, national and global level, while also inviting us to rethink the notion of “benefit” in the 21st century. Public investment is required to maintain the pace of technological and scientific advancements over the next decades. Far from advocating a radical transformation and massive expansion in funding, the authors suggest ways for maintaining a strong foundation of science and research to ensure that we continue to benefit from the outputs. The volume draws inspiration from the first “Economics of Big Science” workshop, held in Brussels in 2019 with the aim of creating a new space for dialogue and interaction between representatives of Big Science organizations, policy makers and academia. It aspires to provide useful reading for policy makers, scientists and students of science, who are increasingly called upon to explain the value of fundamental research and adopt the language and logic of economics when engaging in policy discussions. |
| economics is not science: Money and Government Robert Skidelsky, 2018-11-13 A critical examination of economics' past and future, and how it needs to change, by one of the most eminent political economists of our time The dominant view in economics is that money and government should play only minor roles in economic life. Economic outcomes, it is claimed, are best left to the invisible hand of the market. Yet these claims remain staunchly unsettled. The view taken in this important new book is that the omnipresence of uncertainty makes money and government essential features of any market economy. Since Adam Smith, classical economics has espoused non-intervention in markets. The Great Depression brought Keynesian economics to the fore; but stagflation in the 1970s brought a return to small-state orthodoxy. The 2008 global financial crash should have brought a reevaluation of that stance; instead the response has been punishing austerity and anemic recovery. This book aims to reintroduce Keynes’s central insights to a new generation of economists, and embolden them to return money and government to the starring roles in the economic drama that they deserve. |
| economics is not science: What's the Use of Economics? Diane Coyle, 2012 The gap between important real-word problems and the workhorse mathematical model-based economics being taught to students has become a chasm. This book examines what economists need to bring to their jobs, and the way in which economics education in universities could be improved to fit them better for the real world. |
| economics is not science: Political Economy After Economics David Laibman, 2013-03-01 This re-incorporation of economics into political economy is one (small, but not insignificant) element in a larger project: to place all of the resources of present-day social-scientific research at the service of increasing democracy, in an ultimate direction toward socialism in the classic sense. An economics-enriched political economy is, above all, empowering: working people in general can calculate, build models, think theoretically, and contribute to a human-worthy future, rather than leaving all this to their betters. |
| economics is not science: Narrative Economics Robert J. Shiller, 2020-09-01 From Nobel Prize–winning economist and New York Times bestselling author Robert Shiller, a groundbreaking account of how stories help drive economic events—and why financial panics can spread like epidemic viruses Stories people tell—about financial confidence or panic, housing booms, or Bitcoin—can go viral and powerfully affect economies, but such narratives have traditionally been ignored in economics and finance because they seem anecdotal and unscientific. In this groundbreaking book, Robert Shiller explains why we ignore these stories at our peril—and how we can begin to take them seriously. Using a rich array of examples and data, Shiller argues that studying popular stories that influence individual and collective economic behavior—what he calls narrative economics—may vastly improve our ability to predict, prepare for, and lessen the damage of financial crises and other major economic events. The result is nothing less than a new way to think about the economy, economic change, and economics. In a new preface, Shiller reflects on some of the challenges facing narrative economics, discusses the connection between disease epidemics and economic epidemics, and suggests why epidemiology may hold lessons for fighting economic contagions. |
| economics is not science: Quantum Economics David Orrell, 2018-07-05 A decade after the financial crisis, there is a growing consensus that economics has failed and needs to go back to the drawing board. David Orrell argues that it has been trying to solve the wrong problem all along. Economics sees itself as the science of scarcity. Instead, it should be the science of money (which plays a surprisingly small role in mainstream theory). And money is a substance that turns out to have a quantum nature of its own. Just as physicists learn about matter by studying the exchange of particles at the subatomic level, so economics should begin by analysing the nature of money-based transactions. Quantum Economics therefore starts with the meaning of the phrase 'how much' – or, to use the Latin word, quantum. From quantum physics to the dualistic properties of money, via the emerging areas of quantum finance and quantum cognition, this profoundly important book reveals that quantum economics is to neoclassical economics what quantum physics is to classical physics – a genuine turning point in our understanding. |
| economics is not science: Drive Daniel H. Pink, 2011-04-05 The New York Times bestseller that gives readers a paradigm-shattering new way to think about motivation from the author of When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money—the carrot-and-stick approach. That's a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others). In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction-at work, at school, and at home—is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world. Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does—and how that affects every aspect of life. He examines the three elements of true motivation—autonomy, mastery, and purpose-and offers smart and surprising techniques for putting these into action in a unique book that will change how we think and transform how we live. |
| economics is not science: The World in the Model Mary S. Morgan, 2012-09-17 During the last two centuries, the way economic science is done has changed radically: it has become a social science based on mathematical models in place of words. This book describes and analyses that change - both historically and philosophically - using a series of case studies to illuminate the nature and the implications of these changes. It is not a technical book; it is written for the intelligent person who wants to understand how economics works from the inside out. This book will be of interest to economists and science studies scholars (historians, sociologists and philosophers of science). But it also aims at a wider readership in the public intellectual sphere, building on the current interest in all things economic and on the recent failure of the so-called economic model, which has shaped our beliefs and the world we live in. |
| economics is not science: Foundations of Real-World Economics John Komlos, 2019-01-11 The 2008 financial crisis, the rise of Trumpism and the other populist movements which have followed in their wake have grown out of the frustrations of those hurt by the economic policies advocated by conventional economists for generations. Despite this, textbooks continue to praise conventional policies such as deregulation and hyperglobalization. This textbook demonstrates how misleading it can be to apply oversimplified models of perfect competition to the real world. The math works well on college blackboards but not so well on the Main Streets of America. This volume explores the realities of oligopolies, the real impact of the minimum wage, the double-edged sword of free trade, and other ways in which powerful institutions cause distortions in the mainstream models. Bringing together the work of key scholars, such as Kahneman, Minsky, and Schumpeter, this book demonstrates how we should take into account the inefficiencies that arise due to asymmetric information, mental biases, unequal distribution of wealth and power, and the manipulation of demand. This textbook offers students a valuable introductory text with insights into the workings of real markets not just imaginary ones formulated by blackboard economists. A must-have for students studying the principles of economics as well as micro- and macroeconomics, this textbook redresses the existing imbalance in economic teaching. Instead of clinging to an ideology that only enriched the 1%, Komlos sketches the outline of a capitalism with a human face, an economy in which people live contented lives with dignity instead of focusing on GNP. |
Why is Economics Not an Evolutionary Science - Search Engine
Economics is not an evolutionary science by the confession of its spokesmen; and the economists turn their eyes with something of envy and some sense of baffled emulation to these rivals that …
Why is Economics not an Evolutionary Science may3.
evolutionary economics as an ethic but as a dispassionate science. Veblen seems to use the word ‘growth’ to mean ‘change’ and does not impute any tendency for this change to be about …
Why Economics is not yet a Science - api.pageplace.de
What economists revealed most clearly was the extent to which their profession lags intellectually.”1 This editorial comment by the leading economic weekly (on the 1981 annual …
“Why is Economics not an Evolutionary Science?” New …
Abstract: Addressing the question why Economics as a discipline is not subject to evolutive processes itself, we explain the paradigmatical dominance of neoclassical theories in …
Is economics a science? - paecon.net
However, in this paper, I go a step further and ask the question, not without hesitation due to the seriousness of the negative answer I propose to it, whether economics as it is practised …
But Economics Is Not an Experimental Science
The fact is, economics is not an experimental science and cannot be. “Natural” experiments and “quasi” experiments are not in fact experiments, any more than are Prescott’s “computational” …
Why is Economics not an Evolutionary Science? on JSTOR
Thorstein Veblen, Why is Economics not an Evolutionary Science?, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Jul., 1898), pp. 373-397
Is Economics a Natural Science? - sites.tufts.edu
Oct 4, 2019 · Natural science deals with predictable law-abiding behavior of unconscious particles; economics deals with unpredictable social behavior of conscious humans. In drawing …
Classic Paper Section Why is Economics not an Evolutionary …
Originally published as Veblen, T. (1898). “Why is economics not an evolutionary science?,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, ISSN 0033-5533, 12(4): 373-397. Reprinted with kind
Is Economics a Science? Well, Not Yet. - Ricardo Dahis
Economists use the vocabulary of science: words like theory, data and experiments are used in everyday discourse and practice. Economic theories are full of math and rigor, and genuine …
Why Economics Must be an Evolutionary Science
Institutional thought emerged in economics in the late nineteenth century, with the publication of Why is economics not an evolutionary science? [ in 1898 by Thorstein Veblen.
Revisiting Thorstein Veblen’s “Why is Economics not an …
Revisiting Thorstein Veblen’s “Why is economics not an evolutionary science?”
WHAT ECONOMICS IS NOT: AN ECONOMIST'S RESPONSE
Alexander Rosenberg (1983) has argued, contrary to his previous work in the philosophy of economics, that economics is not science, and it is merely math- ematics. The following paper …
Thorstein Veblen “Why is Economics Not an Evolutionary …
Economics is not an evolu-tionary science — by the confession of its spokes-men; and the economists turn their eyes with something of envy and some sense of baffled emu-lation to …
Is economics a science? Should economics be rigorous?
Many mainstream economists (e.g., Lucas, Cochrane) claim that the characteristics of a “science” require rigor, consistency, and mathematics. So if economics is to be a science it must display …
Why is economics not an evolutionary science? - JSTOR
evolutionary science than the received economics of the Historical School. The whole broad range of erudition and research that engaged the energies of that school commonly falls short of …
Why Economics Is Not Yet a Science - JSTOR
It is a common error to think of science as being characterized by a particular methodology, or prescribed way of acquiring knowledge.
Why is Economics not a Complex Systems Science? - ISU Sites
Instead, economics now offers a vast game-theoretical tool kit that is undeniably ‘scientific’ in content and can address a wide range of observed economic interactions.
“Why is Economics not an Evolutionary Science?”
“Why is Economics not an Evolutionary Science?” Addressing the question why Economics as a discipline is not subject to evolutive processes itself, we explain the paradigmatical dominance …
Why is Economics not an Evolutionary Science? - JSTOR
In so far as he speaks of economics, the emiinient anthropologrist is not alone in his conviction that the science stands in need of rehabilita- tion. His words convey a rebuke and an …
Why is Economics Not an Evolutionary Science - Search …
Economics is not an evolutionary science by the confession of its spokesmen; and the economists turn their eyes with something of envy and some sense of baffled emulation to these rivals that …
Why is Economics not an Evolutionary Science may3.
evolutionary economics as an ethic but as a dispassionate science. Veblen seems to use the word ‘growth’ to mean ‘change’ and does not impute any tendency for this change to be about …
Why Economics is not yet a Science - api.pageplace.de
What economists revealed most clearly was the extent to which their profession lags intellectually.”1 This editorial comment by the leading economic weekly (on the 1981 annual …
“Why is Economics not an Evolutionary Science?” New …
Abstract: Addressing the question why Economics as a discipline is not subject to evolutive processes itself, we explain the paradigmatical dominance of neoclassical theories in …
Is economics a science? - paecon.net
However, in this paper, I go a step further and ask the question, not without hesitation due to the seriousness of the negative answer I propose to it, whether economics as it is practised …
But Economics Is Not an Experimental Science
The fact is, economics is not an experimental science and cannot be. “Natural” experiments and “quasi” experiments are not in fact experiments, any more than are Prescott’s “computational” …
Why is Economics not an Evolutionary Science? on JSTOR
Thorstein Veblen, Why is Economics not an Evolutionary Science?, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Jul., 1898), pp. 373-397
Is Economics a Natural Science? - sites.tufts.edu
Oct 4, 2019 · Natural science deals with predictable law-abiding behavior of unconscious particles; economics deals with unpredictable social behavior of conscious humans. In drawing …
Classic Paper Section Why is Economics not an Evolutionary …
Originally published as Veblen, T. (1898). “Why is economics not an evolutionary science?,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, ISSN 0033-5533, 12(4): 373-397. Reprinted with kind
Is Economics a Science? Well, Not Yet. - Ricardo Dahis
Economists use the vocabulary of science: words like theory, data and experiments are used in everyday discourse and practice. Economic theories are full of math and rigor, and genuine …
Why Economics Must be an Evolutionary Science
Institutional thought emerged in economics in the late nineteenth century, with the publication of Why is economics not an evolutionary science? [ in 1898 by Thorstein Veblen.
Revisiting Thorstein Veblen’s “Why is Economics not an …
Revisiting Thorstein Veblen’s “Why is economics not an evolutionary science?”
WHAT ECONOMICS IS NOT: AN ECONOMIST'S RESPONSE
Alexander Rosenberg (1983) has argued, contrary to his previous work in the philosophy of economics, that economics is not science, and it is merely math- ematics. The following paper …
Thorstein Veblen “Why is Economics Not an Evolutionary …
Economics is not an evolu-tionary science — by the confession of its spokes-men; and the economists turn their eyes with something of envy and some sense of baffled emu-lation to …
Is economics a science? Should economics be rigorous?
Many mainstream economists (e.g., Lucas, Cochrane) claim that the characteristics of a “science” require rigor, consistency, and mathematics. So if economics is to be a science it must display …
Why is economics not an evolutionary science? - JSTOR
evolutionary science than the received economics of the Historical School. The whole broad range of erudition and research that engaged the energies of that school commonly falls short of …
Why Economics Is Not Yet a Science - JSTOR
It is a common error to think of science as being characterized by a particular methodology, or prescribed way of acquiring knowledge.
Why is Economics not a Complex Systems Science? - ISU Sites
Instead, economics now offers a vast game-theoretical tool kit that is undeniably ‘scientific’ in content and can address a wide range of observed economic interactions.
“Why is Economics not an Evolutionary Science?”
“Why is Economics not an Evolutionary Science?” Addressing the question why Economics as a discipline is not subject to evolutive processes itself, we explain the paradigmatical dominance …
Why is Economics not an Evolutionary Science? - JSTOR
In so far as he speaks of economics, the emiinient anthropologrist is not alone in his conviction that the science stands in need of rehabilita- tion. His words convey a rebuke and an …
