The Programming Approach And The Demise Of Economics Selected Testimonies On The Epistemological Overturning Of Economic Theory And Policy

This trilogy deals with an epistemology of economics, arguing for a radical overturning of conventional analysis and providing an alternative to political economy and social sciences, based not on positivism, but on a normative and programming paradigm. Volume II builds on the work presented in Volume I to explore oppositions to the traditional and conventional teaching of economics, and presents testimonies that are favourable to a trend towards a programming approach, thereby giving substance to the epistemological 'overturning' of conventional analysis. Such oppositions studied include the work of Ludvig von Mises and his theory of praxeology; Ian Tinbergen and Wassily Leontif's preference for 'planning' over 'forecasting science'; Bruno de Finetti and Daniel Bell's support for the base of 'utopia' in economics; the trend from the 'theory of planning' towards the 'methodology of planning, by Andreas Faludi; neoclassic curiosity about the 'multi-purposes approach' and 'non-economic commodities' as investigated by Walter Isard, as well as theories expressed by Herbert Simon, Robert Lucas, George Soros and Mark Blaug. Volume III takes studies further and presents a concrete and practical example of how to build a Planning Accounting Framework (PAF), as associated with Frisch's 'plan-frame' (explored in Volume II), to demonstrate the extent to which decisions and negotiations can be routed in the social sciences.

Since its publication in 1982, this book has become established as one of the major works in economic methodology, with its rejection of positivism and advocacy of pluralism profoundly influencing economics over the last decade.

This book brings together key players in the current debate on positive and normative science and philosophy and value judgements in economics. Both editors have engaged in these debates throughout their careers from its early foundations; Putnam as a doctorial student of Hans Reichenbach at UCLA and Walsh a junior member of Lord Robbins’s department at the London School of Economics, both in the early 1950s. This book collects recent contributions from Martha Nussbaum, Amartya Sen and Partha Dasgupta, as well as a new chapter from the editors.

Volume 36A of Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology features a symposium on Bruce Caldwell’s Beyond Positivism after 35 years. The volume also features general-research essays from Luis Mireles-Flores and Alain Marciano. Luca Fiorito presents a new discovery from the archives.

A forceful critique of the social science that has ruled—and damaged—the modern world. The practice of economics, as economists will tell you, is a powerful force for good. Economists are the guardians of the world’s economies and financial systems. The applications of economic theory can alleviate poverty, reduce disease, and promote sustainability. While this narrative has been successfully propagated by economists, it belies a more challenging truth: economic interventions, including those economists deem successful, also cause harm. Sometimes the harm is manageable and short-lived. But just as often the harm is deep, enduring, and even irreparable. And too often the harm falls on those least able to survive it. In The Tragic Science, George F. DeMartino says what economists have too long repressed: that economists do great harm even as they aspire to do good. Economist-induced harm, DeMartino shows, results in part from economists’ “irreparable ignorance”—from the fact that they know far less than they tend to believe they know—and from disciplinary training that treats the human tolls of economic policies and interventions as simply the costs of promoting social betterment. DeMartino details the complicated nature of economic harm, explores economists’ frequent failure to recognize it, and makes a sobering case for professional humility and for genuine respect for those who stand to be harmed by economists’ practice. At a moment in history when the economics profession holds enormous power, DeMartino’s work demonstrates the downside of its influence and the responsibility facing those who practice the tragic science.

'Reflection on the "history of opinion", and its application to our contemporary world and controversies over technology and our environmental difficulties, is the distinguishing feature of the thoughtful economist. If the reader of this book is moved to reflect on the work of Schumpeter and Kalecki, the author of this book will have succeeded. Even more important than this, if the reader of this book comes to a changed and deeper understanding of how technology changes in our faltering capitalist economies, and of how the environment is affected by production and may be improved with better ways of satisfying our personal and productive needs, then the author will have done an even greater service to his profession and humanity.' From the foreword by Jan Toporowski, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK 'Jerry Courvisanos provides us with a timely analysis of the forces behind the crises of capitalism and the tendency towards ecologically unsustainable growth. He draws on the work of two of most creative, if not most recognized, economists of the 20th Century, Michal Kalecki and Joseph Schumpeter. In place of mainstream analysis with its emphasis on marginal conditions for optimisation around well-defined equilibrium, we have a world of innovation, structural change, creative destruction, business cycles, financial crises, changing income distribution and many other inconvenient developments that plague modern economies.' From the foreword by Harry Bloch, Curtin University, Australia Cycles, crises and innovation are the major economic forces that shape capitalist economies. Using a critical realist political economy approach, the analysis in this fine work is based on the works of Micha Kalecki and Joseph Schumpeter both of whom identify these three dynamic forces as plotting the path of economic development. Jerry Courvisanos' thought-provoking book examines how the rise of capital through investment enshrines innovation in profit and power which in turn determines the course of cycles and crises. The author concludes by arguing for strategic intervention by transformative eco-innovation as a public policy path to ecologically sustainable development. This interdisciplinary book will appeal to economists, innovation and entrepreneurship-based scholars, postgraduate students studying the political economy of both innovation and entrepreneurship, regional development planners and economic development policymakers. Anyone with a general interest in economics, politics and innovation or looking for a path out of the economic and ecological morass of current capitalism, will also find much to interest them in this book.

An account of the origins and development of a cultural, social energetic, and systems theoretical contribution to Critical Marxism, which, contrary to the Eurocentric view, first matured in Russia during the period of the Second International. Subjects include the key aspects of Critical Marxism such as holism, social energetics, praxis, phenomenology, and dialectics. Paper edition (unseen), $24.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR