Description
Book SynopsisEconomic Policy under Uncertainty maintains that the question of truth and accountability has not received particular attention in the literature on economic methodology. It goes on to argue that pragmatic theories relate concepts of truth to the beliefs, thoughts and intentional actions of individuals, blurring the relationship between theory and practice.
Focusing on the conditions that make it possible to consider economic policy advice a reliable basis for action and at the same time justifiable in a broad public discourse, the contributors address the difficulties faced by economic policy makers when basing policy decisions on economic advice. They avoid dualistic alternatives between truth-oriented academic theory and economic policy practice and remove the epistemic privilege for academic economists. The question of how economists can be made accountable for policies made as a result of their counsel is also examined.
Exploring real-world difficulties encountered in giving and receiving economic policy advice, this book will be of great interest to economists who wish to reflect on the stance of their discipline, philosophers with an interest in economic issues and economic policy advisers considering the particularities of their subject.
Trade Review'This collection is a serious examination of many issues that most economists probably take for granted. As such, it is a welcome reminder and valuable contribution. . . academics and practitioners alike will benefit if the interest is in taking a hard, reflective look at their trade and getting a strong update on the state of thinking about the philosophy of economics and economic policymaking.' -- Edward J. LOpez, Journal of Markets and Morality
Table of ContentsContents: Preface 1. Economic Policy under Uncertainty: The Role of Truth and Accountability in Policy Advice 2. Some Truths about Truth for Economists and their Critics and Clients 3. Deliberative Democracy as an Institutional Mode of Inquiry: Pragmatism, Social Facts and Normative Theory 4. Communicative Rationality as the Basis of Economic Science: Contextualist Implications of the Pragmatic Turn in Critical Social Theory 5. The Role of Truth in Economic Policy Advice 6. Philosophical Concepts of Truth in Economic Policy Advice 7. Macroeconomics, Pragmatism and Cognitive Scarcity: Keynes Should Have Read C.S. Peirce on Probability and Evolutionary Complexity 8. Truth, Uncertainty, Morals: The Uneasy Relationship between Economic Advice and Politicians 9. Serving Two Masters: Economic Methodology between Philosophy and Practice 10. The Issue of Uncertainty in Economics 11. Uncertainty in Econometrics: Evaluating Policy Counterfactuals 12. Uncertainty and Monetary Policy 13. Knightian Uncertainty, Accountability and Economic Policy Rules 14. In Between Popper and Kuhn: Some Reflections on How Economists Create Economic Reality and the Reality of Economic Policy Index
