The Future of Economics in a Lakatos–Bourdieu Framework.

Heise, Arne (2014): The Future of Economics in a Lakatos–Bourdieu Framework. Published in: International Journal of Political Economy , Vol. 43, No. 3 (2014): pp. 70-93.

Abstract

The global financial crisis has clearly been a matter of great consternation for the business-as-usual faction of mainstream economics. Will the World Financial Crisis turn out to be that experimentum crucis that triggered a scientific revolution? In this article, we seek to assess the likelihood of a paradigm shift toward heterodox approaches and a more pluralist setting in economics emerging from the academic establishment in the United States—that is, from the dominant center of knowledge production in the economic discipline. This will be done by building the analysis on a combined Lakatosian framework of “battle of research programs” and a Bourdieuian framework of “power struggle” within the academic field and highlighting the likelihood of two main proponents of the mainstream elite to become the promulgator of change.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Paradigm, heterodox economics, scientific revolution
• Subjects: A - General Economics and Teaching > A1 - General Economics > A11 - Role of Economics ; Role of Economists ; Market for Economists; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E1 - General Aggregative Models > E11 - Marxian ; Sraffian ; Kaleckian; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E1 - General Aggregative Models > E12 - Keynes ; Keynesian ; Post-Keynesian

References

Abel, A.B., Bernanke, B.S. (2005); Macroeconomics, Boston

Allington, N.F.B., McCombie, J.S.L., Pike, M. (2011); The failure of the new macroeconomic consensus: from non-ergodicity to the efficient markets hypothesis and back; in: International Journal of Public Policy, Vol. 7, No. 1/2/3, pp. 4 - 21

Aslanbeigui, N., Oakes, G. (2007); The Editor as Scientific Revolutionary: Keynes, the Economic Journal, and the Pigou Affair, 1936- 1938; in: Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Vol. 29, No.l, pp. 15-48

Bean, C. (2010), Joseph Schumpeter Lecture ‘The Great Moderation, The Great Panic, and the Great Contraction’; in: Journal of the European Economic Association, Vol.8, pp. 289–325

Bernanke, B. S. (2010); On the Implications of the Financial Crisis for Economics; remarks delivered at a conference at Princeton University, available: http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20100924a.pdf.

Bernanke, B.S. (2012); The Great Moderation; in: Koenig, E.F., Leeson, R., Kahn, G.A. (eds.); The Taylor Rule and the transformation of monetary policy, Stanford, pp. 145 - 162

Besley, T., Hennesey, P. (2009); Letter to HM Queen Elisabeth, The British Academy (available: http://memex.naughtons.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/economists_letter_to_hmq.pdf

Blanchflower, D. (2009); The future of monetary policy, open lecture at Cardiff University, March 24th 2009, available: http://194.61.178.65/publications/Documents/speeches/2009/speech382.pdf

Blanchard, O. (2006); Macroeconomics, New York

Blanchard, O. (2008); The State of Macro, NBER Working Paper 14259

Blanchard, O., Dell’Ariccia, G., Mauro, P. (2010): Rethinking Macroeconomic Policy, IMF Staff Position Note 10/03, Washington

Bourdieu, P. (1990); Homo Academicus, Cambridge Bourdieu, P. (1991); Zur Soziologie symbolischer Formen, Frankfurt

Caballero, R.J. (2010); Macroeconomics after the Crisis: Time to Deal with the Pretense-of-Knowledge Syndrome; in: Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 24, no.4, pp. 85 – 102

Cartwright, E. (2011); Behavioral Economics, Abingdon Chang, H.-J. (2001); Commentary; in: Chang, H.-J. (ed.); Joseph Stiglitz and the World Bank. The Rebel Within, London, pp. 1 - 16

Clower, R.; The Keynesian Counter-Revolution: A Theoretical Appraisal; in: Hahn, F.H., Brechling, F.P.R. (eds.); The Theory of Interest Rates, London 1965, pp. 103 - 125 Coase, R.H. (1994); Essays on Economics and Economists, Chicago

Cochrane, J.H. (2011); How Did Paul Krugman Get It So Wrong?; in: Economic Affairs, Vol. 31, No.2, pp. 36 – 40 Colander, D. (2007); The Making of an Economist, Redux, Princeton

Colander, D.C. (2010); Moving beyond the rhetoric of pluralism: suggestions for an ‘inside-the mainstream’ heterodoxy; in: Garnett, R., Olsen, E.K., Starr, M. (eds.); Economic Pluralism, London, pp. 36 - 47

Colander, D.C., Holt, R.C.F., Rosser, J.B. Jr. (2009); Introduction; in: Colander, D.C., Holt, R.C.F., Rosser, J.B. Jr. (eds.): Changing Face of Economics: Conversations with Cutting Edge Economists, Ann Arbor, pp. 1- 25

Colander, D.C., Holt, R.C.F., Rosser, J.B. Jr. (2010); How to win friends and (possibly) influence mainstream economists; in: Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Vol. 32, No.3, pp. 397 – 408

Colander, D., Klamer, A. (1987); The Making of an Economist, in: Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol.1, No.2, pp. 95 - 111

Coyle, D. (2011); The Soulful Science: What Economists Really Do and Why It Matters, Princeton

Cronin, B. (2010); The Diffusion of Heterodox Economics; in: American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 69, No.5, pp. 1475 - 1494

Cross, R. (1982); The Duhem-Quine-Thesis, Lakatos and the Appraisal of Theories in Macroeconomics; in: Economic Journal, Vol. 92, pp. 320- 340

Davidson, P. (1984); Reviving Keynes’ Revolution; in: Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Vol. 6, No.4, pp. 561-575

Davidson, P. (1992); Would Keynes be a New Keynesian?; in: Eastern Economic Review, Vol. 18, No.4, pp. 449 - 463

Davidson, P. (2005); Responses to Lavoie, King, and Dow on What Post Keynesianism Is and Who Is a Post Keynesian; in: Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Vol. 27, No. (3), pp. 393–408

Davis, J.B. (2006); The turn in economics: neoclassical dominance to mainstream pluralism?; in: Journal of Institutional Economics, Vol. 2, No.1, pp. 1 - 20

Deutsch, K.W., Platt, J., Senghaas, D. (1971); Conditions Favoring Major Advances in Social Science; in: Science, Vol. 171, No. 3970, pp. 450 - 459

Eggertsson, G.B., Krugman, P. (2012); Debt, Deleveraging, and the Liquidity Trap: A Fisher-Minsky-Koo approach; in: Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 127, No.3, pp. 1469 – 1513

Feyerabend, P. (1970); Consolations for the Specialist; in: Lakatos, I., Musgrave, A. (eds.); Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, Cambridge, pp. 197 - 230

Feyerabend, P. (1975); Against Method. Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge, London

Galbraith, J.K. (2013); The Third Crisis in Economics; Journal of Economic Issues, Vol. 47, No.2, pp. 311 - 322

Graham, H.D., Diamond, N. (1997); The Rise of American Research Universities. Elites and Challengers in the Postwar Era, Baltimore

Goodfriend, M. (2004); Monetary Policy in the new neoclassical synthesis: a primer; in: Economic Quarterly Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Summer, pp. 21 – 45

Haering, N. (2014); George Soros’ INET: an institute to improve the world or a Trojan horse of the financial oligarchy?; in: real-world economics review, No. 67, pp. 90 - 96

Hickel, R. (1986) (ed.); Radikale Neoklassik. Ein neues Paradigma zur Erklärung der Massenarbeitslosigkeit – die Vogt-Kontroverse, Opladen

Hutton, W. (1986); The Revolution that Never Was. An Assessment of Keynesian Economics, London

Katzner, D.W. (2011); At the Edge of Camelot. Debating Economics in Turbulent Times, Oxford/New York

Kazmierski, U. (1993); Grundlagenkrise in der Volkswirtschaftslehre; in: Ethik und Sozialwissenschaften Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 283 - 295

Keynes, J.M. (1919); The Economic Consequences of the Peace, London

Keynes, J.M. (1925); The Economic Consequences of Mr. Churchill, in: The Nation and Athenaeum, May

Keynes, J.M. (1930); A Treatise on Money, London

Keynes, J.M. (1935); Letter to George Bernard Shaw of January, 1st 1935; in: Moggridge, D. (ed.); Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes, Vol. XIII, London

Keynes, J. M. (1936); The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, London

King, J. (2002); A History of Post Keynesian Economics since 1936, Cheltenham

Kirman, A. (2010); The Economic Crisis is a Crisis for Economic Theory; in: CESIfo Economic Studies, Vol. 56, No. 4, pp. 498 – 535

Klamer, A. (2007); Does this Have to Be our Future?; in: Colander, D.; The Making of an Economist, Redux, Princeton, pp. 227 - 233

Klein, L. (1947); The Keynesian Revolution, New York

Koppl, R., Luther, W.J. (2012); Hayek, Keynes, and modern macroeconomics; in: The Review of Austrian Economics, Vol. 25, No.3, pp. 223 -241

Kromphardt, J. (2013); Die größten Ökonomen: John Maynard Keynes, Konstant/München

Krugman, P. (1995); Peddling Prosperity: Sense and Nonsens in an Age of Diminished Expexpectations, New York

Krugman, P. (1998a); The Accidental Theorist and other Dispatches from the Dismal Science, New York

Krugman, P. (1998b); Two cheers for Formalism; in: Economic Journal, Vol. 108, No.6, pp. 1829 - 1836

Krugman, P. (1999); The Return of Depression Economics, New York

Krugman, P. (2009); How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?, in: The New York Times of September, 6th 2009

Krugman, P. (2012); End this Depression Now!, New York

Krugman, P. (2013); Wynne Godley and the Hydraulics; in: The New York Times of September, the 13th

Kuhn, T. S. (1962); The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago

Lakatos, I. (1970); Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes, in: Lakatos, I. & Musgrave, A. (eds.); Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, Cambridge, pp. 91-195

Lawson, T.(2006); The Nature of Heterodox Economics; in: Cambridge Journal of Economics, Vol. 30, No.4, pp. 483 – 507

Lebaron, F. (2006); ‘Nobel’ Economists as Public Intellectuals. The Circulation of Symbolic Capital; in: International Journal of Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 43, No.1, pp. 87 - 101

Lee, F.S. (2000); The organizational history of Post Keynesian economics in America, 1971 – 1995, in: Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Vol. 23, No.1, pp. 141 – 162

Lee, F.S. (2004); History and Identity: The Case of Radical Economics and Radical Economists, 1945 – 70; in: Review of Radical Political Economics, Vol. 36, No.2, pp. 177 - 195

Lee, F.S. (2009); A History of Heterodox Economics: Challenging the Mainstream in the Twentieth Century, Abingdon

Lucas, R. E jr. (2003); Macroeconomic priorities; in: American Economic Review, Vol. 93, No.1, pp. 1 - 14

Lucas, R. E. jr. (2009); In defence of the dismal science; in: The Economist of August 6th 2009

Mata, T. (2009); Migrations and Boundary Work: Harvard, Radical Economists and the Committee on Political Discrimination; in: Science in Context, Vol. 22, No.1, pp. 115 – 143

Mearman, A. (2012); Heterodox economics' and the problem of classification; in: Journal of Economic Methodology, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 407-424

Middleton, R. (1998): Charlatans or Saviours? Economists and the British Economy from Marshall to Meade, Northampton

Minford, P. (2010); The Banking Crisis as Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium; in: CESIfo Economic Studies, Vol. 56, No.4, pp. 554 – 574

Minsky, H.P. (1986); Stabilizing an Unstable Economy, New Haven

Mishan, E. J. (1963); Say’s Law and Walras’ Law once more; in: Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 77, No.4, pp. 617-625

Moggridge, D. (1990); Keynes as Editor; in: Hey, J.D., Winch, D. (Hrsg.); A Century of Economics: 100 Years of the Royal Economic Society and The Economic Journal, Oxford, pp. 143- 157

Palley, T.I. (2013); Gattopardo economics: The crisis and the mainstream response to change, IMK Working Paper No. 112, Düsseldorf

Peabody, G.E. (1971); Scientific Paradigms and Economics; An Introduction; in: Review of Radical Political Economics, Vol. 3, pp. 1 - 16

Pessaran, M.H., Smith, R.P. (2011); Beyond the DSGE Straitjacket; in: The Manchester School, Vol. 79, pp. 5 - 16

Pigou, A.C. (1941); Employment and Equilibrium, London

Pressman, S. (1999); Fifty Major Economists, London

Reich, M. (1993); Radical Economics in Historical Perspective; in: Review of Radical Political Economics, Vol. 25, No.3, pp. 43 - 50

Rezende, F.C. (2009); Keynes’s Relevance and Krugman’s Economics, in: Blog in ‘New Economic Perspectives’, erhältlich unter http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2009/08/keyness-relevance-and-krugmans.html

Robinson,]. (1976); Michal Kalecki: A Neglected Prophet, in: New York Review of Books, 4th of March

Rosser, J.B., Holt, R.P.F., Colander, D. (2010); European Economics at Crossroads; in: Rosser, J.B., Holt, R.P.F., Colander, D. (eds.); European Economics at Crossroads, Cheltenham, pp. 3- 28

Schlefer, J. (2013); Embracing Wynne Godley, an Economist Who Modelled the Crisis; in: The New York Times of September, the 10th

Schmidt, C. M. and N. aus dem Moore (2010), Die Methodendiskussion in den Wirtschafstwissenschaften vor dem Hintergrund der Finanzkrise; in: Jens, U., Romahn, H. (eds.), Methodenpluralismus in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften. Marburg, pp. 143-182

Schneider, J. (1988); Kritische Neoklassik: Ergebnisse und Perspektiven; in: Vogt, W. (ed.); Politische Ökonomie heute, Regensburg 1988, pp. 183 - 220

Schultze, Ch. L. (1996): The CEA: An Inside Voice of Mainstream Economics, in: Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 10, pp. 23-39

Smith, V. L. (2003); Constructivist and Ecological Rationality in Economics; in: Frängsmayr, F. (ed.); The Nobel Prizes 2002, Stockholm, pp. 502- 561

Snowdon, B., Vane, H.R. (1997); The development of modern macroeconomics: a rough guide; in: Snowdon, B., Vane, H.R. (eds.); A Macroeconomic Reader, London, pp. 1 - 26

Stiglitz, J.E. (2002a); Globalization and its Discontents, New York

Stiglitz, J.E. (2002b); Information and the Change in the Paradigm in Economics; in: Frängsmayr, F. (ed.); The Nobel Prizes 2001, Stockholm, pp.472 – 540

Stiglitz, J.E. (2002c); Information and the Change in the Paradigm in Economics; in: American Economic Review, Vol. 92, No.3, pp. 460 - 501

Stiglitz, J.E. (2003); The Roaring Nineties, New York

Stiglitz, J.E. (2006); Making Globalization Work, New York

Stiglitz, J.E. (2008a); The End of Neoliberalism, Project Syndicate, July

Stiglitz, J.E. (2008b); It doesn’t Take Nostradamus; in: Economist’s Voice, November

Stiglitz, J.E. (2008c); Markets Can’t Rule Themselves; in: Newsweek v. 31. Dezember

Stiglitz, J.E. (2009a); Moving Beyond Market Fundamentalism to A More Balanced Economy; in: Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Vol. 80, No. 3, pp. 345-360

Stiglitz, J.E. (2009b): The Current Economic Crisis and Lessons for Economic Theory, in: Eastern Economic Journal, Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 281 - 296

Stiglitz, J.E. (2010); Needed: A new economic paradigm; in: Financial Times of 19th of August 2010

Stiglitz, J.E. (2011); Rethinking Macroeconomics: What Failed and How to Repair It; in: Journal of the European Economic Association, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp.591-645

Stiglitz, J.E. (2014); The Lessons of the North Atlantic Crisis for Economic Theory and Policy; in: Akerlof, G.,Blanchard, O., Romer, D. Stiglitz, J.E. (eds.); What Have We Learned? Macroeconomic Policy after the Crisis, Cambridge (Mass.) and London, pp. 335-347

Summers, P.M. (2005); What caused the Great Moderation? Some Cross-Country Evidence; in: Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Economic Review, Vol. 90, No.3, pp. 5 – 32

Vernengo, M. (2010); Conversation or monologue? On advising heterodox economists; in: Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 389 - 396

Vogt, W. (1986); Theorie der kapitalistischen und einer laboristischen Ökonomie, Frankfurt

Williamson, O. (1997); Comments, in: Coats, A.W. (Hrsg.); The Post-1945 In-ternationalization of Economics, Durham

Woodford, M. (2010); Financial Intermediation and Macroeconomic Analysis; in: Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 24, No.4, pp. 21 - 44

Worland, S.T. (1972); Radical Political Economy as a ‘Scientific Revolution’; in: Southern Economic Journal, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 274 - 284

Yonay, Y. (1998); The Struggle Over the Soul of Economics: lnstitutionalist and Neoclassical Economists in America Between the Wars, Princeton