scholarly journals The When, the How and the Why of Mathematical Expression in the History of Economic Analysis

1991 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Mirowski
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Expression ◽  
Great Difficulty ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Mathematical Discourse ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Economic Discourse ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
Inflection Points ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

In writings about the history of the use of mathematical expression in economics, there seems to be a conviction that the movement towards its current flowering was cumulative, inevitable, and indeed, natural. While, such notions are widely held among practicing economists, I want to argue that they are not historically valid. The deployment of mathematical expression in economic discourse enjoyed neither an inexorable nor unhindered progress, but rather was characterized by two primary ruptures in the history of economic thought, episodes marking the inflection points in the rise of mathematical discourse. The main reason for such a disjointed narrative is that, in the evolution of economic thought, most of the participants were not convinced that the subject matter intrinsically demanded mathematical expression, while those so enamored experienced great difficulty in creating a community which could agree upon a formalism which was thought to be well-suited to economic issues.

scholarly journals Is history of economic thought a "serious" subject?

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Cristina Marcuzzo
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Contextual Analysis ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Textual Exegesis ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the nature of research methods in the history of economic thought. In reviewing the "techniques" which are involved in the discipline, four broader categories are identified: a) textual exegesis; b) "rational reconstructions"; c) "contextual analysis"; and d) "historical narrative". After examining these different styles of doing history of economic thought, the paper addresses the question of its appraisal, namely what is good history of economic thought. Moreover, it is argued that there is a distinction to be made between doing economics and doing history of economic thought. The latter requires the greatest possible respect for contexts and texts, both published and unpublished; the former entails constructing a theoretical framework that is in some respects freer, not bound by derivation, from the authors. Finally, the paper draws upon Econlit records to assess what has been done in the subject in the last two decades in order to frame some considerations on how the past may impinge on the future.

scholarly journals Journal of the History of Economic Thought Preprints - A.J. Brown, 'Phillips’ Curve', and Economic Networks in the 1950s

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth John Button
Keyword(s):  
Phillips Curve ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Economic Networks ◽  
Wage Change ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Ordinal Interpretation

This paper is concerned with examining the role of the English economist Arthur (A.J.) Brown in the 1950s debate surrounding the wage-change unemployment relationship. While the publication of William (Bill) Phillips’ 1958 paper, and the subsequent moniker of the “Phillips Curve” attracted a wealth of attention, Brown’s book on the subject, The Great Inflation, and his later work on inflation, has received much less. Here the focus is on redressing somewhat this situation by looking at Brown’s work to see how much it predates Phillips’ paper, and what differences there are to it. We also considers this within the changing institutional structure of English economic networks in the 1950s that led to a relatively rapid acceptance of Phillips’ analysis, and in many cases, to a strong, ordinal interpretation of the Phillips Curve that overshadowed Brown’s work.

How Should We Approach the History of Economic Thought, Fact, Fiction or Moral Tale?

1992 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger E. Backhouse
Keyword(s):  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Healthy State ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Traditional Approaches ◽  
The Way

This paper reviews the way in which constructivist or anti-representationalist arguments have been used as an argument in favor of changing the way we write the history of economic thought. It is argued that though such arguments provide some important new perspectives on the subject, their use as a comprehensive methodological critique of “traditional” approaches to the subject rests on the theses that a non-foundationalist methodology is impossible, and that we can assume that contemporary economics is in a healthy state. If these theses are not accepted, the case against “traditional” histories collapses.

scholarly journals Michel Foucault's archaeology of knowledge and economic discourse

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serhat Kologlugil
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Economic Methodology ◽  
Economic Discourse ◽  
History Of Economics ◽  
History Of ◽  
Archaeology Of Knowledge ◽  
Archaeological Analysis ◽  
Epistemological Framework

The literature in economic methodology has witnessed an increase in the number of studies which, drawing upon the postmodern turn in social sciences, pay serious attention to the non-epistemological-discursive elements of economic theorizing. This recent work on the "economic discourse" has thus added a new dimension to economic methodology by analyzing various discursive aspects of the construction of scientific meanings in economics. Taking a similar stance, this paper explores Michel Foucault's archaeological analysis of scientific discourses. It aims to show that his archaeological reading of the history of economic thought provides an articulate non-epistemological framework for the analysis of the discursive elements in the history of economics and contemporary economic theorizing.

scholarly journals Journal of the History of Economic Thought Preprints - Beyond Say’s Law: The Significance of J.-B. Say’s Monetary Views

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy Numa ◽  
Alain Béraud
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Complete Picture ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Monetary Theory ◽  
Economic Crises ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Many ◽  
Proper Context

Say’s notion of débouchés has not been correctly understood, for lack of proper context within the framework of his broader political economy. We revisit Say’s writings on this topic, retrace the concept’s evolution, and lay out a framework that better illustrates the essence of Say’s thinking. We argue that Say’s theories on money and economic crises are much richer and more sophisticated than the traditional interpretation of Say’s law would suggest. Say himself acknowledged that his monetary theory contradicted his initial articulations of the law, a point often missed by contemporary observers. This essay paints a more complete picture of Say’s work, showing how monetary changes could, under his framework, affect real variables. In so doing, it cuts against the many simplistic interpretations that pervade the existing literature on the subject.

On the Finding of an Equilibrium: Düpp e–Weintraub and the Problem of Scientific Credit

2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 590-633
Author(s):  
M. Ali Khan
Keyword(s):  
Review Article ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
The Body ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Thomas Kuhn ◽  
Economic Knowledge ◽  
Intellectual Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Kenneth Arrow

In this review article, I read a book that revolves around two papers published in 1954, one by Lionel McKenzie, and the other by Kenneth Arrow and Gérard Debreu—Till Düppe and E. Roy Weintraub’s Finding Equilibrium: Arrow, Debreu, McKenzie and the Problem of Scientific Credit (2014). Under a tripartite categorization of people, context, and credit, this book advances the claim that “by being applied, interpreted, shaped, and reshaped, [these] proofs came to symbolize a new intellectual culture in American economics and help reconstruct the body of economic knowledge” (Düppe and Weintraub 2014, p. 204). My reading leads me to contest this claim, and also to contest whether a history of economic analysis, much less a history of economic thought, can be written by taking refuge in the vernacular of ancillary discourses orthogonal to the subject matter whose history is being written, and without the disciplinary criteria that these discourses operate under. An unintended consequence of my reading is the identification of lacunae in the reception of these proofs, an underscoring of Paul A. Samuelson’s panoramic vision, and a reemphasis of the sterling contributions of David Gale, Thomas Kuhn, Hukukane Nikaido, and Hirofumi Uzawa. (JEL A14, B23, B30, C60)

Further Thoughts on Clarifying the Idea of Dissent: The Russian and Soviet Experience

2006 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Barnett
Keyword(s):  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Economic Discourse ◽  
Keynesian Economics ◽  
History Of ◽  
Soviet Experience

In his Journal of the History of Economic Thought article, “A Suggestion for Clarifying the Study of Dissent in Economics,” Roger Backhouse usefully proposed some terminological clarifications with respect to studying the ideas of disagreement, controversy, and dissent in (Western) economic discourse, heterodoxy being defined as a more narrow category than dissent. Backhouse also wrote that “the ideas on which Marxist, Radical, and Post Keynesian economics are based were arguably never widely held” (Backhouse 2004, p. 265).

HES PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: THE COASE THEOREM LESSONS FOR THE STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEVEN G. MEDEMA
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Presidential Address ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Coase Theorem ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Economic Discourse ◽  
Half Century ◽  
History Of ◽  
Pluralistic Approach

The Coase theorem has occupied a prominent place in economic discourse for the last half-century. The debate over the theorem and the uses to which it has been put are important moments in the history of modern economics, and the analysis of them by the historians of economics sheds light on certain of the tensions in contemporary historiography. This article discusses several aspects of the intellectual history of the Coase theorem, arguing that the study of this history illustrates the necessity of a pluralistic approach, and that attempts to write history from a singular historiographic perspective leave us with histories that are both misleading and incomplete.

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