Philosophy of Economics

Dedication

General Preface

Preface

Contributors

Part A General Philosophical Themes

Realism and Antirealism About Economics

1 Introduction

2 Scientific Realism in Conventional Philosophy of Science

3 Ingredients of a Minimal Scientific Realism

4 Commonsensibles and their Modifications in Economic Modelling

5 Social Construction (What?) of What?

6 Conclusion

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Rise and fall of Popper and Lakatos in Economics

1 Introduction

2 Early Engagements with Popper

3 Lakatos and the Emergence of Economic Methodology

4 The Movement from Popper and Lakatos

5 Appraising Economic Theories

6 Methodology After Lakatos

7 Conclusions

Acknowledgements

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Models and Modelling in Economics

1 Introduction

2 Nature of Economic Models

3 Working with Models

4 Conclusions: From Models to Modelling

Acknowledgements

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Economic Theory and Causal Inference

1 Reductionist and Structuralist Accounts of Causality

2 Structual Estimation and Causality

3 The Assault on Macroeconometric Models

4 Inferring Causes from Interventions

5 Graph-Theoretic Accounts of Causal Structure

6 A Synthetic Program for Uncovering The Causal Structure of Vars

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Naturalism and the Nature of Economic Evidence

1 Naturalism and Evidence

2 Nonexperimental Evidence

3 Experimental Evidence

4 Evidence and Unrealistic Causal Models

Conclusion

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Some Issues Concerning the Nature of Economic Explanation

1 Some Controversies About Explanation

2 Formal Criteria for Explanation in Economics

3 Theoretical Entities and Explanation

4 When do Models Explain?

5 Macro and Microexplanation

6 Functional Explanation and Evolutionary Economics

7 The Nature of Economic Causes

8 Conclusion

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Unreasonable Efficacy of Mathematics in Modern Economics

1 The Classical Arguments

2 The Role and Functions of Mathematics in Neoclassical Economics

3 Post-1980 Developments in Alternative Possibilities for Mathematical Formalization in Economics

4 A Revival of Philosophy of Mathematics for Economics?

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Feminist Philosophy of Economics

Introduction

What Makes an Economic Inquiry Feminist?

Is Rational Choice Theory Androcentric?

Values and Objectivity in Economics

“Critical Realism:” A Contested View in Feminist Philosophy of Economics

Conclusion

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Positive-Normative Dichotomy and Economics

1 Introduction to the Positive-Normative Dichotomy

2 The History of the Positive-Normative Dichotomy in Economics

3 Normative and Ethically Normative

4 The Entanglement of Positive and (Ethically) Normative

5 Conclusion

Acknowledgements

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Economic Theory, Anti-Economics, And Political Ideology

1 Introduction

2 Anti-Economists and Markets

3 Economic Theory and the Normative Status of the Market

4 Non-Ideological Economics

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Social Scientific Naturalism and Experimentation in Economics

1 Is Game Theory Testable?

2 Difficulties in Testing Game Theory

3 Determining Preferences

4 The Implications of Preference Complexities

5 Some Implications for Social Scientific Naturalism

6 Conclusions

Acknowledgements

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Part B Specific Methods, Theories, Approaches, Paradigms, Schools, Traditions

The Philosophy of Economic Forecasting

1 Introduction

2 Prerequisites

3 Forecasting, Prediction, and Economics

4 The Purpose of Economics

5 Philosophical Questions

6 Causality and Control

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Philosophy of Econometrics

1 Introduction

2 Relevant Philosophical/Methodological Issues

3 Philosophy of Science and Empirical Modeling

4 Statistical Inference and its Foundational Problems

5 Error-Statistics (E-S) and Inductive Inference

6 Statistical Adequacy and the Reliability of Inference

7 Philosophical/Methodological Issues Pertaining to Econometrics

8 Summary And Conclusions

Acknowledgements

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Measurement in Economics

1 The Representational Theory of Measurement

2 Axiomatic Representational Theory of Measurement

3 Empirical Representational Theory of Measurement

4 Instrument Measurement

5 Reliable Measurement Results

6 Economic Modeling

Acknowledgements

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Geographical Economics and its Neighbours — Forces Towards and Against Unification

1 Introduction

2 Geographical Economics and its Neighbours

3 Explanatory Unification4

4 Intra-Disciplinary Unification of Location, Trade and Growth

5 Inter-Disciplinary Unification: Economics Imperialism10

6 Unrealistic Assumptions, Idealizations and Explanatory Power

7 Concluding Remarks

Acknowledgements

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Homo Economicus Conception of the Individual

1 Existence as a Category of Investigation

2 What Exists in Economics?

3 The Homo Economicus Conception of the Individual

4 The Problem of Multiple Selves

5 Three Precursor Social Identity Arguments

6 Recent Social Identity Arguments

7 The Conception of the Individual in Recent Economics

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Rational Choice and Some Difficulties for Consequentialism*

1 Introduction

2 Transitivity

3 Independence

4 Difficulties With the Formalisation of Non-Dictatorship

5 The Identification Problem

6 Summary

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Rational Choice, Preferences Over Actions and Rule-Following Behavior

1 Introduction

2 Rationality Principle and Rationality Hypotheses in Economics

3 Adjusting the Utility Function

4 Preferences Over Actions and Rule Following

5 The Rationale of Rule-Following Behavior

6 The Explanation of Rule-Following Behavior

7 Conclusion

Acknowledgements

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Philosophy of Game Theory

1 Introduction

2 Some Basic Concepts

3 Game Theory as a Normative Theory of Rationality

4 Game Theory as a Predictive Theory

5 Conclusion

BIBLIOGRAPHY

An Embarrassment of Riches

1 Social Preferences

2 Analysis Based on BUG

3 Variants to BUG

4 Conclusion

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Experimentation in Economics

1 Introduction

2 Theory and Experiment

3 Experimental Inferences

4 External Validity

5 The Philosophical Relevance of Experimental Economics’ Results

6 Other Issues and Readings

Acknowledgements

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Behavioral Economics

1 Introduction

2 The Intellectual Backdrop

3 Psychological Approaches During the Late Neoclassical Period

4 The “New” Behavioral Economics

5 The Methods of Behavioral Economics

6 Current Directions

7 Conclusion

Acknowledgements

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Economic Agent

1 Introduction

2 Economic Agency

3 Animal Agents

4 The Heartland of Economics

5 Behavioral Economics and Neuroeconomics: The Molar and the Molecular

6 People as Coordinating Equilibria

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ontological Issues in Evolutionary Economics

Introduction

Conclusions

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Public Choice

Introduction and Overview

1 Homo Oeconomicus Goes Politics

2 Normative Public Choice

Conclusions

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Judgment Aggregation

1 Introduction

2 A Problem of Majority Inconsistency

3 The Basic Model of Judgment Aggregation

4 A General Impossibility Result

5 Avoiding the Impossibility

6 The Relationship to Other Aggregation Problems

7 Concluding Remarks

Acknowledgements

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Economics of Scientific Knowledge

1 The Idea of an Economics of Scientific Knowledge

2 The Optimisation Paradigm

3 Epistemic Utility Approaches

4 The Exchange Paradigm

5 Social Mechanisms for Knowledge Production

Acknowledgements

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Index of Names

General Index