Critical Realism in Economics: Development

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.

Notes on contributors	p. ix
Preface	p. xii
Development	p. 1
Developments in economics as realist social theory	p. 3
Under labouring	p. 3
Deductivism	p. 4
Retroduction	p. 9
Social relations	p. 11
Context	p. 13
Substantive theory	p. 14
Acknowledgements	p. 15
Notes	p. 15
Bibliography	p. 16
The 'closure' assumption as a first step: neo-Ricardian economics and post-Keynesianism	p. 21
Introduction	p. 21
Critical realism, deductivism and closure	p. 23
The neo-Ricardian retention of deductivism	p. 25
The core of classical political economy	p. 25
Concluding remarks	p. 34
Notes	p. 35
Bibliography	p. 39
Realism, theory and individualism in the work of Carl Menger	p. 43
Introduction	p. 43
Menger: realism and theory	p. 44
Theory as exact science	p. 46
The exact method, individualism and the 'simplest elements in everything real'	p. 48
Problems with Menger's essentialism?	p. 49
Transcendental realism	p. 52
Transcendental realism and Menger's exact science	p. 55
Conclusion	p. 56
Notes	p. 57
Bibliography	p. 58
On Popper, probabilities and propensities	p. 63
Probabilities as propensities	p. 64
A world of propensities	p. 66
Falsification, situational analysis and propensities as causes	p. 71
Notes	p. 77
Bibliography	p. 80
Metaphor and critical realism	p. 83
Introduction	p. 83
Reference and critical realism	p. 84
The interanimation theory of metaphor	p. 88
Metaphors and models	p. 91
Metaphor and reference	p. 94
Conclusion	p. 97
Notes	p. 98
Bibliography	p. 100
Money is a social relation	p. 103
Introduction	p. 103
Money in orthodox 'real' economic analysis	p. 105
The search for the 'micro-foundations' of money	p. 107
Money as a structure of social relations	p. 109
Conclusion	p. 117
Notes	p. 117
Bibliography	p. 122
Debate	p. 125
Situating critical realism in economics	p. 127
Critical realism: rooted more firmly in economics	p. 128
Critical realism: the focus upon ontology	p. 129
Notes	p. 132
Bibliography	p. 133
Critical realism and economics: a causal holist critique	p. 137
Introduction	p. 137
From transcendental to critical realism	p. 139
From ontology to methodology: issues for critical realism	p. 142
Conclusion	p. 148
Bibliography	p. 149
Why the 'transcendental' in transcendental realism?	p. 151
Introduction	p. 151
What is a transcendental argument?	p. 151
Justification of realism	p. 156
The argument from human capabilities	p. 164
Conclusion	p. 166
Notes	p. 167
Bibliography	p. 168
Empirical realism as meta-method: Tony Lawson on neoclassical economics	p. 169
Introduction	p. 169
Empirical realism and neoclassical economics	p. 170
What neoclassicism is not: economic practice	p. 175
What neoclassicism is not: methodology	p. 178
Conclusion	p. 181
Notes	p. 182
Bibliography	p. 183
Against Eurocentred epistemologies: a critique of science, realism and economics	p. 187
Introduction	p. 187
Science	p. 188
Economics	p. 190
Realism	p. 194
Against Eurocentricism	p. 198
Notes	p. 201
Bibliography	p. 205
Critical issues in economics as realist social theory	p. 209
Introduction	p. 209
The use of transcendental argument in evaluating philosophical perspectives	p. 210
Arguments in support of a perspective on social reality and (social) science	p. 219
The nature and relevance of the contemporary mainstream project in economics	p. 223
The nature of social scientific explanation	p. 233
Critical realism, science and human freedom	p. 239
Notes	p. 248
Bibliography	p. 255
Name index	p. 259
Subject index	p. 265
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Critical Realism in Economics: Development and Debate

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