The consequences of economic rhetoric : [papers from a Conference on the Rhetoric of Economics, gathered at Wellesley College MA, in 1986

The field of economics proves to be a matter of metaphor and storytelling--its mathematics is metaphoric and its policymaking is narrative. Economists have begun to realize this and to rethink how they speak. This volume is the result of a conference held at Wellesley College, involving both theoretical and applied economists, that explored the consequences of the rhetoric and the conversation of the field of economics. Cover......Page 1 Frontmatter......Page 2 Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 8 The consequences of economic rhetoric......Page 12 PART I - ECONOMIC RHETORIC: INTRODUCTION AND COMMENTS......Page 14 1 - Economics in the human conversation......Page 16 2 - Comments from outside economics......Page 34 3 - Comments from inside economics......Page 44 4 - Rhetoric and ideology......Page 51 PART II - ECONOMIC RHETORIC: FURTHER ARGUMENTS......Page 58 5 - Marxian theory and the rhetorics of economics......Page 60 6 - Economic rhetoric: The social and historical context......Page 77 7 - The ideas of economists......Page 98 8 - Should a scientist abstain from metaphor?......Page 113 PART III - ECONOMIC RHETORIC AMONG ECONOMISTS......Page 128 9 - Shall I compare thee to a Minkowski--Ricardo--Leontief--Metzler matrix of the Mosak--Hicks type? Or, rhetoric, mathematics, and the nature of neoclassical economic theory......Page 130 10 - On the brittleness of the orange equilibrium......Page 159 11 - The significance of significance: Rhetorical aspects of statistical hypothesis testing in economics......Page 176 12 - The rhetoric of self-interest: Ideology of gender in economic theory......Page 197 PART IV - ECONOMIC RHETORIC IN POLITICS AND JOURNALISM......Page 218 13 - The heterogeneity of the economists' discourse: Philosopher, priest, and hired gun......Page 220 14 - The grammar of political economy......Page 234 15 - The rhetoric of economics as viewed by a student of politics......Page 253 16 - "Yellow rain" and "supply-side economics": Some rhetoric that failed......Page 260 PART V - ECONOMIC RHETORIC: ITS RHETORIC AND ITS CONSEQUENCES......Page 276 17 - Negotiating a new conversation about economics......Page 278 18 - The consequences of rhetoric......Page 293 1 - Appendix: Other contributors and participants......Page 308 Index......Page 310 The field of economics proves to be a matter of metaphor and storytelling - its mathematics is metaphoric and its policy-making is narrative. Economists have begun to realize this and to rethink how they speak. This volume is the result of a conference held at Wellesley College, involving both theoretical and applied economists, that explored the consequences of the rhetoric and the conversation of the field of economics "As civilized human beings," wrote Michael Oakeshott in 1933, "we are the inheritors, neither of an inquiry about ourselves and the world, nor of an accumulating body of information, but of a conversation begun in the primeval forest and extended and made more articulate in the course of centuries." The papers in this volume are drawn from a recent conference at Wellesley College for both theoretical and applied economists, which explored the consequences of rhetoric and conversation within the field of economics Edited By Arjo Klamer, Donald N. Mccloskey, Robert M. Solow. Includes Bibliographies And Index.