Fact and Fiction in Economics: Models, Realism and Social Construction

Bringing together some of the leading figures in the field of economic methodology and philosophy, this collection provides a thoughtful and balanced overview of the current state of debate about the status of economic knowledge. Representing the most current thinking on a topic of enduring interest to economists and philosophers and other social scientists, the book is notable for the extent to which authors from opposing schools of thought engage seriously with their opponents.

This collection provides a thoughtful overview of the debate about the status of economic knowledge.

USKALI MÄKI is Professor at Erasmus University of Rotterdam and Academic Director of the Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics.

Part I. Introduction: 1. The dismal queen of the social sciences Uskali Mäki; Part II. Setting the Scene: 2. Ugly currents in modern economics Mark Blaug; 3. Modern economics and its critics Partha Dasgupta; 4. Some non-reasons for non-realism about economics Uskali Mäki; Part III. Economic Theory and Economic Reality: 5. Credible worlds: the status of theoretical models in economics Robert Sugden; 6. Models, stories and the economic world Mary Morgan; 7. The limits of causal order, from economics to physics Nancy Cartwright; 8. Econometrics and reality Kevin Hoover; 9. Economic models and reality: the role of informal scientific methods Roger Backhouse; 10. Truthlikeness and economic theories Ilkka Niiniluoto; Part IV. The Constitution of Economic Reality: 11. Rational choice, functional selection and empty black boxes Philip Pettit; 12. The reality of common cultures Shaun Hargreaves Heap; 13. Collective acceptance and collective attitudes: on the social construction of social reality Raimo Tuomela and Wolfgang Balzer; 14. Putting evidence in its place: John Mill's early struggles with 'facts in concrete' Neil DeMarchi; 15. Hayek and cultural evolution Bruce Caldwell; Part V. The Institutions of Economics: 16. You shouldn't want a realism if you have a rhetoric Deirdre McCloskey; 17. The more things change, the more they stay the same: social realism in contemporary science studies Wade Hands; 18. Economists: truth-seekers or rent-seekers Jesus Zamora Bonilla.