Facts and Fictions in Economics: Models, Realism, and Social Construction

Author: (Dutch) Maikai (Editor), Li Jingkui (Translator) and others
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features: Fact or Fiction? Is economics truly a respected, useful, and fact-based discipline, or merely an intellectual game where economists construct numerous models? This book discusses this question from three related perspectives: economic models, the nature of the economy, and the social structure of the discipline itself. The corresponding three key questions are: What is the relationship between economic models and reality? How does the part of the world related to economics operate? How does the institutional structure of the economics discipline affect its orientation toward facts or fiction? Further questions will be raised regarding these issues and their interrelationships. If economic models and economic facts are both the results of social construction, is it credible that models can reflect the real world? Under what conditions would this possibility be realized? This book gathers scholars of great reputation in their respective fields to conduct a thorough and comprehensive analysis of the nature and limitations of current economic knowledge. Is economics truly a respected, useful, and fact-based discipline, or merely an intellectual game where economists construct numerous models? This book gathers scholars of great reputation in their respective fields to conduct a thorough and comprehensive analysis of the nature and limitations of current economic knowledge. The authors discuss the relationship between economic models and reality, the fundamental nature of economic phenomena, and the institutional issues of the economics discipline from the perspectives of methodology, semantics, ontology, rhetoric, sociology, and scientific economics.