This book aims to study, from an approach linked to epistemology and the history of ideas, the evolution of economic science and its differing seminal systems. Today mainstream economics solves certain problems chosen within the scope of “normal science,” without questioning the epistemological foundations that support the paradigm within which they were conceived. Contrary to a Neoclassical interpretation, the historicist interpretation shows that, from the incommensurability of the different paradigms, it is impossible to conceive of a progress of economic science, in a long-term perspective. This book ultimately reveals, from the different economic schools of thought analyzed, that there is no pure form of episteme, or system of understanding. Each concrete episteme in the history of economic thought is by nature hybrid in the sense that it contains components from preceding systems of knowledge.
Author(s): Alain Herscovici
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 237
City: Cham
Foreword
Contents
About the Author
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 Introduction
An Archeology
Why Foucault?
Epistemology, History of Economic Thought and History of Ideas
Epistemology and Historicity
The History of Economic Ideas and the Historical Method
Historicity and Substantial Hypothesis
The General Problematic
The General Structure of the Book
References
Part I An Archeology of Economic Science: From the Physiocrats to the Neoclassics
2 History of Sciences and Epistemology
History of Science and Epistemology: Internal History Versus External History?
The Different Conceptions
The Autonomy of the Scientific Field and the Progress of Science
The Autonomization Process
A Relative Autonomy
Historicity and Epistemology
The General Problem
Some Examples in Economic Science
Episteme and Economic Science
The Scientific Community: A Heroic Hypothesis
Foucault’s Contribution
Episteme: A First Approach
The Different Epistemes
Episteme, Historicity and Economy
Kunh and Foucault
Convergences and Divergences
The Dynamics of Change
References
3 From Physiocratic School to Neoclassical Economics
The Physiocratic School and Adam Smith
Physiocracy
Adam Smith: Labor Value Versus Utility Value?
The Labor Value Theory
Utility
The Ambivalence
The Labor Value Theory: Ricardo and Marx
The Ricardian Theory of Value
The Incorporated Labor Theory
The Ricardian Concept of Capital
Marx
Neoclassical Economics: The “Triumph” of Utility Value
The Theory of Subjective Utility Value
The Aggregate Quantity of Capital
History of Economic Thought, Episteme and Historicity
Episteme and Nature of Ruptures
A Taxonomy of Different Schools of Thought
Physiocracy
Smith
Ricardo and Marx
The Neoclassical School
References
4 The Different Epistemological Trajectories: From Archeology to Genealogy
Autonomization of Economic Science and Substantial Hypothesis
Autonomization of Economic Science
A Progressive Emancipation
The Substantial Hypothesis: A First Approach
The Substantial Hypothesis in Different Paradigms
Wealth, Value and Historicity: The Rupture Introduced by Ricardo
The Classical Economy
Marx
Neoclassical Economics: Mercantile Objectivity
A Premonitory Intuition from Cultural Economics
The Exclusion of Cultural Goods from the Field of Economic Theory: The Van Gogh Paradox
Use Value: The Relational, Social and Historical Dimension
The Different Epistemological Trajectories
A Winding Path
A Reconstruction of Internal History
Some Controversies About the Theory of Value
Keynes Versus Neoclassical Economics: Blaug’s Interpretation
The Incommensurability of Different Paradigms
An Episteme Proper to Economic Science?
The Definition of the Object of Study
References
Part II Epistemological Ruptures: Three Contemporary Examples
5 The Reswitching of Techniques and Its Epistemological Implications: A Deepening of Criticism
The Architecture of Neoclassical Macroeconomics
The Main Causal Relations of Neoclassical Macroeconomics
The Starting Point of Neo-Ricardian Criticism
Stability, Equilibrium Instability and Substitution Principle
The Loanable Funds Theory
Convergence to the Steady State
The Reswitching of Techniques: A Deepening of Neo-Ricardian Criticism
The Traditional Presentation
The Fundamental Mechanisms
The Implicit Hypothesis
The Different Cases
A Deepening of Criticism
Some Logical Fallacies
An Alternative Analysis
Final Remarks
References
6 Hayek and Neoclassic Economics: Some Dangerous Liaisons?
Hayek’s Scientific Research Program
Methodological Monism and Universalism
The Hayekian Individualism
The Nature of Capital
The Nature of the Rupture Between Hayek and the Neoclassical Economics
Equilibrium and Adjustment Mechanisms
The Hayekian Modus Operandi
Capital Scarcity and Economic Cycle
Savings, Business Cycle and Money Nature
Finances, Expectations and Auctioneer
Real Cycle Theory or Monetary Cycle Theory?
Information and Prices: The Competitive Order
Final Observations
References
7 Money, Finance and Real Economy
Keynes and the LFT: The Fundamentals of Criticism and the Affirmation of the Non-Neutrality of Money
Keynes’s Critique
Interest Rate and Liquidity Preference
The Interest Rate Determination
Preference for Liquidity and Idle Money: The Ambiguities Present in GT
Speculative Finance, Spillover Effect and Non-neutrality of Finance
Productive Versus Speculative Finance
Liquidity Preference and Idle Money
Propagation Effects and Nature of the Banking System
Final Remarks
References
8 Beyond Episteme: The Concept of Order
Individualism, Individual Rationality Limits and the Concept of Order
The Modernity Paradoxes
The Holistic Dimension
Beyond Episteme Concept
The Different Orders
The “Liberal” Order
The “Institutional” Order
Welfare Economics and Social Cost
Welfare Economics: Varian, Pindyck and Rubinfeld’s Model
The Problem of Social Costs
Some Limits
Ricardo’s Theory of Differential Rent: An Other Order
The Social Choice
The Condorcet’s Paradox
Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem
The Impossibility of Defining a Purely Individual and Collective Rationality
Democracy, Freedom and Law
Final Remarks
References
9 General Conclusion
Foucault’s Contribution to the History of Economic Thought: An Archaeological View
The Limits of Foucault’s Analysis with Regard to Economics
Beyond Episteme: The Hybrid Concept of Order
A Typology
Orders and Episteme
References
Author Index
Thematic Index
