Questions tagged [philosophy-of-economics]
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21
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-4
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4answers
266 views
How is economics even a science, rather than just politics?
"Take from the rich and give to the poor," says the Left-wing politician who stands to benefit from the votes of poor voters they bribe with government benefits. "Take from noone, and ...
0
votes
1answer
62 views
What are the best theoretical or empirical defenses of equilibrium analysis in economics?
An Anarchist FAQ (see Wikipedia page here) focuses its opposition to mainstream economics by criticizing equilibrium analysis. The FAQ notes that,
[Equilibrium analysis] is essentially a static tool ...
5
votes
4answers
1k views
Economics' position in the hierarchy of sciences (hard vs soft)
As a student of Economics, I often listen to the claim that Economics is a "soft science" and that its results may not be too reliable etc. The explanations are often based on personal ...
0
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1answer
129 views
Is there any goal of Economics? [closed]
As I understand every subject has some goals for example in physics one particular goal is to have a unified field theory. Is there any one or more goals of economics. I was expecting the goals should ...
6
votes
3answers
206 views
What is the point of considering only pure strategies in a game? How could you restrict people from thinking about mixed strategy?
In an experimental setting, how could you effectively incentivize the subjects to not to adopt mixed strategy?
I would like to re-emphasize that the question in concern is "how to prevent people ...
3
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0answers
86 views
What is the observable definition of "preference" by Frisch?
To make things weird, although Frisch was fully aware of the importance of random distribution in economics relations, he never mention the randomness in binary preference relations!
How to define ...
0
votes
1answer
37 views
Economy with constant amount of money
A thought experiment: (Based on my understanding of economics)
Suppose we are guaranteed that no natural calamity/war/pandemic happens for one year (from year $0$ to year $1$) in the world. Then the ...
1
vote
1answer
58 views
Are revealed preferences normative or positive notion?
I always thought from my understanding of the terms normative and positive that revealed preferences are a positive concept. For example, saying Anakin prefers grass to sand (i.e. $U(g)\succ U(s)$) is ...
0
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2answers
52 views
What justifies the authority of a bank to create money when they make loans?
This is somewhat of a political or philosophical question.
As explained by the Bank of England and elsewhere, the majority of broad money is created by credit to banks' accounts when they make loans. ...
2
votes
4answers
140 views
Big research goals in economics?
Are there any big, overarching research goals in economics?
Examples from other fields that come to my mind:
Mathematics: Millenium problems, Hilbert's problems, Collatz conjecture, ...
Computer ...
4
votes
4answers
153 views
Understanding Classical Rationality at a Basic Level
I am a high school student in an intro Microeconomics class (note that we have not covered utility functions) and I'm utterly confused about the classical concept of rationality. I certainly ...
1
vote
2answers
63 views
Non-axiomatic definition of well-being
I first wanted to ask this on philosophy@SE but, on a second thought, decided this might be a better place.
If we defined a general policy's objective being "to maximize well being and minimize ...
1
vote
0answers
46 views
Zero-sum games being converted into positive-sum games
It seems as if "pure, naked self-interest", that is, self-interest without liberty, results often in a zero-sum game. (I'm using the term liberty in a Lockean sense, where it is taken to mean the ...
1
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4answers
325 views
What is economics?
It has been disturbing me since the first year of college that the meaning of economic is express too much as it is too less. "Study of scarcity, utilize the limited resources to satisfy unlimited ...
0
votes
2answers
98 views
Philosophy books for decision theory and economics idea
I have learned economics so far, the most astonishing economics' thing is its though which is talkable and visually in the real world or the abstract world that is worth researching and talking. What ...
-1
votes
1answer
83 views
How did economics become a "science", an academic field?
How did economics become a "science", an academic field?
Because I think of it as a soft science and thus in order to be considered a science it would need to be able to reply to the hard sciences? ...
5
votes
2answers
202 views
Arrow of time and irreversibility in Economics
In physics there is the concept of arrow of time, which states that time only evolves in one direction (forward), and that this should be visible in the material world. As the Wikipedia article states ...
3
votes
2answers
166 views
McCloskey's example of fungibility in basketball
To illustrate the concept of fungibility, Deirdre McCloskey (1985, p. 7, PDF) gives an example from basketball.
She claims that the last two points scored are no more important than any two points ...
2
votes
1answer
47 views
Which are some proven methods to compare alternative economic theories?
Based on this question about alternative schools of thought, this question about untested economic theories, and the rather unsatisfactory answer (imo) to this question about which is the "most ...
10
votes
6answers
5k views
Which are the different Schools of Economic Thought?
It would be great to have a brief but comprehensive list of current (e.g. Austrian) and defunct (e.g Mercantilism) schools of thought in Economics. I think an ideal answer would include:
the defining ...
5
votes
5answers
1k views
Where does capital come from?
Sorry if this is a birds and the bees type question. Where does capital come from? And I am not talking human capital (which to my mind is skills basically). I suppose I'm taking about financial ...
