Reclaiming the University: transforming economics as a discipline
Economics as a discipline is currently in disarray. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, academic experts, students, commentators, practitioners and politicians all questioned the status of academic economics and many called for a ‘new economic thinking’. Nearly a decade later, however,...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | deu |
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Editura ASE Bucuresti
2018-05-01
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Series: | The Journal of Philosophical Economics |
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https://jpe.ro/pdf.php?id=8006
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author | Arne Heise |
author_facet | Arne Heise |
author_sort | Arne Heise |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Economics as a discipline is currently in disarray. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, academic experts, students, commentators, practitioners and politicians all questioned the status of academic economics and many called for a ‘new economic thinking’. Nearly a decade later, however, there is little evidence of a transformation in research and teaching. The present study first clarifies what is meant by a transformation of economics as a discipline, since this remains an ill-defined term and may be interpreted in very different ways. It then establishes the conditions of a successful transformation of the discipline in terms of intra-disciplinary and extra-disciplinary factors. The paper argues that economics as a discipline cannot be expected to trigger this transformation by itself (i.e. via self-regulation), since the ‘market for economic ideas’ is prone to market failure. In addition, the influence of external factors and actors on the market may serve to distort the congruence between the individual researcher’s utility and societal welfare. External incentives are therefore required to establish constitutional guardrails that ensure fair competition between ideas. |
first_indexed | 2024-04-12T03:29:09Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-0d9d9998dbb04b6290e6101d046682df |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 1843-2298 1844-8208 |
language | deu |
last_indexed | 2024-04-12T03:29:09Z |
publishDate | 2018-05-01 |
publisher | Editura ASE Bucuresti |
record_format | Article |
series | The Journal of Philosophical Economics |
spelling | doaj.art-0d9d9998dbb04b6290e6101d046682df2022-12-22T03:49:36ZdeuEditura ASE BucurestiThe Journal of Philosophical Economics1843-22981844-82082018-05-01XI23766Reclaiming the University: transforming economics as a disciplineArne Heise0 The Department of Socioeconomics, Hamburg University Economics as a discipline is currently in disarray. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, academic experts, students, commentators, practitioners and politicians all questioned the status of academic economics and many called for a ‘new economic thinking’. Nearly a decade later, however, there is little evidence of a transformation in research and teaching. The present study first clarifies what is meant by a transformation of economics as a discipline, since this remains an ill-defined term and may be interpreted in very different ways. It then establishes the conditions of a successful transformation of the discipline in terms of intra-disciplinary and extra-disciplinary factors. The paper argues that economics as a discipline cannot be expected to trigger this transformation by itself (i.e. via self-regulation), since the ‘market for economic ideas’ is prone to market failure. In addition, the influence of external factors and actors on the market may serve to distort the congruence between the individual researcher’s utility and societal welfare. External incentives are therefore required to establish constitutional guardrails that ensure fair competition between ideas. https://jpe.ro/pdf.php?id=8006 pluralismtransformationmainstream economicsheterodox economicsregulation |
spellingShingle | Arne Heise Reclaiming the University: transforming economics as a discipline The Journal of Philosophical Economics pluralism transformation mainstream economics heterodox economics regulation |
title | Reclaiming the University: transforming economics as a discipline |
title_full | Reclaiming the University: transforming economics as a discipline |
title_fullStr | Reclaiming the University: transforming economics as a discipline |
title_full_unstemmed | Reclaiming the University: transforming economics as a discipline |
title_short | Reclaiming the University: transforming economics as a discipline |
title_sort | reclaiming the university transforming economics as a discipline |
topic | pluralism transformation mainstream economics heterodox economics regulation |
url |
https://jpe.ro/pdf.php?id=8006
|
work_keys_str_mv | AT arneheise reclaimingtheuniversitytransformingeconomicsasadiscipline |