Journal of Economic Methodology, Volume 30, Issue 1, March 2023 is now available online. This new issue contains the following articles.
Articles
Cohen Kaminitz, Shiri. 2023. “The Significance of GDP: A New Take on a Century-Old Question.” Journal of Economic Methodology 30 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1080/1350178X.2023.2167228
Silvestri, Paolo, and Benoît Walraevens. 2023. “The Wealth of Humans: Core, Periphery and Frontiers of Humanomics.” Journal of Economic Methodology 30 (1): 15–33. doi:10.1080/1350178X.2022.2160003.
Tzotzes, Sergios, and Dimitris Milonakis. 2023. “Scientific Communities, Recent Crisis and Change in Economics: A Kuhnian Perspective.” Journal of Economic Methodology 30 (1): 34–48. doi:10.1080/1350178X.2022.2147980.
Mebius, Alexander. 2023. “On the Epistemic Contribution of Financial Models.” Journal of Economic Methodology 30 (1): 49–62. doi:10.1080/1350178X.2023.2172447.
Pearl, J. 2023. “Comments on Nick Huntington–Klein’s Review ‘Pearl before Economists: The Book of Why and Empirical Economics.’” Journal of Economic Methodology 30 (1): 63–67. doi:10.1080/1350178X.2023.2170859.
Book Review
Marchionni, Caterina. 2023. “What Is Useful Philosophy of Economics?: A Modern Guide to Philosophy of Economics, by Harold Kincaid and Don Ross, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, 2021, 384 Pp., ISBN: 978-1-78897-445-5.” Journal of Economic Methodology 30 (1): 68–70. doi:10.1080/1350178X.2022.2141324.
Articles
The Significance of GDP: A New Take on a Century-Old Question
by Shiri Cohen Kaminitz
Abstract
What is the significance of GDP per capita to a society? What does it represent conceptually? These questions have been addressed in past decades, engendering extensive explorations of the limitations of the indicator, yet answers have proved problematic or partial. The paper presents the main conclusions so far drawn and builds upon them to present a new reading of the significance of GDP per capita. At the heart of this reading is the view that, while GDP per capita is not indicative of the welfare of individuals, it is indicative of an irreducible ‘group well-being.’ This view, however, requires one to relinquish the belief that only individuals can be ‘well.’ It turns out that the allegedly orthodox view, which sees GDP as a human-centered indicator, requires an unorthodox philosophical standpoint, one that accepts an irreducible group well-being. The paper presents this alternative interpretation and addresses its upsides and limitations.
Download: 10.1080/1350178X.2023.2167228
The Wealth of Humans: Core, Periphery and Frontiers of Humanomics
by Paolo Silvestri and Benoît Walraevens
Abstract
Among the various attempts to re-humanize economics, the ‘humanomics’ proposed by Vernon Smith and Bart Wilson stands out. We contribute to the “humanomics project” by mapping its territory – core, periphery and frontiers – with an eye, also, on future explorations. First, we critically study the core: Smith and Wilson’s interpretation and experimental application of Adam Smith’s ideas on beneficence and injustice. Using the distinction between reciprocal cooperation and reciprocal kindness, we provide a different interpretation of Smith which helps to better understand the difference between exchange and trust, based on mutual advantage, and (reciprocal) beneficence proper. Secondly, we turn to the periphery, going beyond the ‘dichotomous representation of the human personality’ – personal-social/impersonal-economic – and showing other possible worlds: nuances of humans equally worthy of study, such as the personal-economic and the impersonal-social. Thirdly, we argue that the humanomics project should keep its frontiers as open as possible to human diversities and frailties.
Download: 10.1080/1350178X.2022.2160003.
Scientific Communities, Recent Crisis and Change in Economics: A Kuhnian Perspective
by Sergios Tzotzes and Dimitris Milonakis
Abstract
Considering Kuhn’s emphasis on the community structure of science, this paper focuses on the scientific community to inquire whether the recent global financial crisis ushered paradigm change in economics. To appraise the nature and the extent of post-crisis change, we examine the methodological constitution of the dominant paradigm identified as New Consensus Macroeconomics, methodological commitments binding paradigm and scientific community, and assess the practice of the community, particularly the treatment of anomalies. Subsequently, an attempt is made to illuminate whether/how sociological and institutional parameters in the community structure of the discipline bear upon prospects of change. Empirically, this research investigates, categorizes and evaluates post-crisis responses and perceptions of the scientific community. The overarching aim is to determine whether economics responded to a major anomaly with critical self-reflection on the adequacy of its methodological toolbox, leading to theory change, and to shed light on institutional aspects influence this process.
Download: 10.1080/1350178X.2022.2147980.
On the Epistemic Contribution of Financial Models
by Alexander Mebius
Abstract
Financial modelling is an essential tool for studying the possibility of financial transactions. This paper argues that financial models are conventional tools widely used in formulating and establishing possibility claims about a prospective investment transaction, from a set of governing possibility assumptions. What is distinctive about financial models is that they articulate how a transaction possibly could occur in a non-actual investment scenario given a limited base of possibility conditions assumed in the model. For this reason, it is argued that the epistemic contribution of financial models is that of enabling the model users to envision exactly how a prospective investment could be achieved in various ways through a detailed understanding of the available transaction mechanisms. Thus, financial models provide information about the possibility of an investment scenario by showing how a specific transaction mechanism could result from a small set of initial possibility conditions assumed in the model.
Download:10.1080/1350178X.2023.2172447.
Comments on Nick Huntington–Klein’s Review ‘Pearl before Economists: The Book of Why and Empirical Economics
by Judea Pearl
Abstract
This note aims to assist applied econometricians in understanding the tools of causal inference and to extend those discussed in Nick Huntington-Klein's review of The Book of Why.
Download: 10.1080/1350178X.2023.2170859.
Book Review
Review of A Modern Guide to Philosophy of Economics (Harold Kincaid and Don Ross)
by Caterina Marchionni
Virtually all contemporary philosophers of science are familiar with the statement attributed to physicist Richard Feynman comparing the usefulness of the philosophy of science to scientists to the usefulness of ornithology to birds. It is a statement taken to epitomize the views of scientists, including economists, about the irrelevance of philosophical debates to scientific practice. In general, questions concerning what useful philosophy of science is, and how to produce it, have been and remain major challenges for philosophers (see, for example, Laplane et al., Citation2019). In a broadly naturalist conception of the role of philosophy of science, Harold Kincaid and Don Ross compiled A Modern Guide to Philosophy of Economics to promote useful philosophy of economics. What, then, constitutes useful philosophy of economics? Is the kind of philosophy we do useful to practising economists, policy makers or society at large? Read the rest of the review