Philosophy of Economics and Economic Methodology for Economics Students
Philosophy of Economics and Economic Methodology for Economics Students
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"...the master-economist must possess a rare combination of gifts. [She/]He must reach a high standard in several different directions and must combine talents not often found together. [She/]He must be mathematician, historian, statesman, philosopher-in some degree. [She/]He must understand symbols and speak in words. [She/]He must contemplate the particular in terms of the general, and touch abstract and concrete in the same flight of thought. [She/]He must study the present in the light of the past for the purposes of the future."
Thinking about the place of philosophy in economics is not a new discussion. The relevance and place of philosophy-- along with other subjects-- in the field of economics was recognized by Keynes a century ago. However, today a standard course or even program in economics which engages or mentions these topics may not be easy to come across. All of this despite a number of big names in the field, such as Paul Krugman in the NY Times or Angus Deaton for the IMF, pushing for a rethink on how we do economics and encouraging views on how economists engage with their methodology or philosophy.
So what does the philosophy of economics look like for an economics student?
Foundational Text on the Philosophy of Economics
This article is aimed at providing an overview of the research area of the philosophy of economics for students of economics. Linked here.
Paper on Diversity in Introductory Courses in Philosophy of Economics: a Study of Course Syllabi
This paper, written alongside Milena Dehn, evaluates the demographic and intellectual diversity in introductory syllabi for courses in the Philosophy of Economics and Economic Methodology. The paper is aimed at encouraging lecturers to reflect on what material they present to their students. We build on Claveau et al. (2021) which identifies different subtopics within philosophy of economics and we analyze the presence of these topics across 40 different syllabi. The figure below represents this topic breakdown across the roughly 40 syllabi.
The paper is part of a forthcoming special issue on "Diversity in Philosophy of Economics" in the Journal of Economic Methodology.
Book Review on Robert Skidelsky's What's Wrong with Economics?
This book review, completed with Maria João Pimenta, was done for the Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics. Linked here.
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