The Boundaries of Economics [Paperback]

These essays attempt to place neoclassical economic theory, especially conventional textbook micro-economic theory, in the broader context of other social sciences and modern economics.This volume examines themes that complicate the conventional economist's view of the world and thereby provide for a notably more complex, and humane, subject of study than the traditional Homo economicus.This volume examines themes that complicate the conventional economist's view of the world and thereby provide for a notably more complex, and humane, subject of study than the traditional Homo economicus.The essays in this book explore some of the important areas of the long boundary between economics and intellectually adjacent disciplines, by placing the neoclassical paradigm in the broader context of these other social sciences. Written by economists and philosophers, these papers examine the themes that complicate the conventional economist's view of the world and thereby provide a notably more complex (and humane) subject than the traditional homo economicus. In analyzing these imperialist forays from the field and territorial invasions upon it, the contributors seek to understand what it is that separates economics from the other kinds of inquiry and to expound upon the actual limits of economics. They also look at the shifts and changes in the boundaries of what is considered economics.Preface; Acknowledgements; List of contributors; 1. Introduction Gordon C. Winston; 2. Towards a rhetoric of economics Donald N. McCloskey; 3. Three problems with the treatment of time in economics: perspectives, repetitiveness and time units Gordon C. Winston; 4. Hayek, the Scottish school and contemporary economics John Gray; 5. Reuniting economics and philosophy Michael S. McPherson; 6. Economic methodology and philosophy of science Daniel M. Hausman; Index. ...a stimulating collection of accessible discussions of the methodological concerns facing economics. It combines brevity with a rlÃ