The Consequences of Economic Rhetoric [Paperback]

This volume is the result of a conference held at Wellesley College, involving both theoretical and applied economists, that explored the consequences of the rhetoric and the conversation of the field of economics.The field of economics proves to be a matter of metaphor and storytelling - its mathematics is metaphoric and its policy-making is narrative. Economists have begun to realize this and to rethink how they speak.The field of economics proves to be a matter of metaphor and storytelling - its mathematics is metaphoric and its policy-making is narrative. Economists have begun to realize this and to rethink how they speak.The field of economics proves to be a matter of metaphor and storytelling--its mathematics is metaphoric and its policymaking is narrative. Economists have begun to realize this and to rethink how they speak. This volume is the result of a conference held at Wellesley College, involving both theoretical and applied economists, that explored the consequences of the rhetoric and the conversation of the field of economics.Preface; Part I. Economic Rhetoric: Introduction and Comments: 1. Economics in the human conversation Arjo Klamer and Donald N. McCloskey; 2. Comments from outside economics Stanley Fish; 3. Comments from inside economics Robert M. Solow; 4. Rhetoric and ideology Robert L. Heilbroner; Part II. Economic Rhetoric: Further Arguments: 5. Marxian theory and the rhetorics of economics Stephen Resnick and Richard Wolff; 6. Economic rhetoric: the social and historical context A. W. Coats; 7. The ideas of economists Robert W. Clower; 8. Should a scientist abstain from metaphor? Christina Bicchieri; Part III. Economic Rhetoric Among Economists: 9. Shall I compare thee to a Minkowski-Ricardo-Leontief-Metzler matrix of the Mosak-Hicks type? Or, rhetoric, mathematics, and the nature of neoclassical economic theory Philip Mirowski; 10. On the brittleness of the orange equilibrium E. Roy Weintraub; 11. The significance of significance: rhetols)