Critical Realism in Economics: Development and Debate

There is a growing perception among economists that their field is becoming increasingly irrelevant due to its disregard for reality. Critical realism addresses the failure of mainstream economics to explain economic reality and proposes an alternative approach. This book debates the relative strengths and weaknesses of critical realism, in the hopes of developing a more fruitful and relevant socio-economic ontology and methodology. With contributions from some of the leading authorities in economic philosophy, it includes the work of theorists critical of this approach. In the first part, contributors develop and deepen economics as a realist social theory by considering the work of individuals, various schools of thought, socio- economic phenomena and methodology. In the second part, contributors weigh the strengths and weaknesses of critical realism.

Thomas A. Boylan is Associate Professor of Economics at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Steve Fleetwood is a senior lecturer in Economics and Sociology at De Montfort University, Milton Keynes. D. Wade Hands is Professor of Economics at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. Geoffrey Ingham is a Fellow and Director of Studies in Social and Political Sciences, Christ's College, University of Cambridge. Rajani Kanth is currently a Visiting Fellow with the Economics Department at Harvard University. Clive Lawson is currently a Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge and Research Fellow of the ESRC Centre for Business Research, Department of Applied Economics, University of Cambridge. Tony Lawson is Lecturer in Economics at the Cambridge Faculty of Economics and Politics. Paul Lewis is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Paschal F. O'Gorman is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and Secretary of the Royal Irish Academy's National Committee for the History and Philosophy of Science. Stephen D. Parsons is Principal Lecturer in Economics at De Montfort University, Milton Keynes. Stephen Pratten is Research Fellow at the ESRC Centre for Business Research, Department of Applied Economics, University of Cambridge. Jochen Runde is Fellow and Director of Studies in economics at Girton College, Cambridge, and Lecturer in Economics at New Hall, Cambridge.