Online research in philosophy

Economists study "The Economy," or so one might suppose. Yet this overarching entity is strikingly absent from mainstream theory. Since the 1950s, it has generally been described with a few mathematical propositions and not given a description that attends to institutions, power relations, or the emergent properties that form the leading indicators in macroeconomic theory. There is thus a significant divergence between folk economics and scientific economics on this theoretical entity. This article briefly addresses the history of this concept, noting (...) its heyday in the interwar years, and brings to bear some of the analytical apparatus on institutional facts devised by John Searle. Whatever is meant by "The Economy" in folk economics appears to be significantly divergent from what is posited in scientific economics. Key Words: economy • Searle • theoretical entities • macroeconomics • economic indicators • folk economics. (shrink)

Economists are still very much in the grip of both operationalism and a reverence for classical mechanics as the science to emulate. Those who have exposed the weaknesses of this approach tend also to dismiss neo-classical economics as devoid of empirical and/or ideological-free content, a move which seems to have been counter-productive. This paper attempts to follow up on the more modest assessment of economics put forth by Allan Gibbard and Hal Varian. Their perspective on economic models suggests that economists (...) might better establish the scientific status of their discipline by adopting the Hempelian case for history. (shrink)