nep-hpe New Economics Papers
on History and Philosophy of Economics
Issue of 2026–01–05
fifteen papers chosen by
Erik Thomson, University of Manitoba


  1. Ramsey and Keynes...and Sraffa and Wittgenstein: Change in Interwar Cambridge Economics and Policy By Davis, John B.;
  2. Meet Karel Engliš (1880–1961), A Prominent Czech Economist, Logician, Politician and Scholar: Introduction and his Bibliography in Foreign Languages By Krištofóry, Tomáš
  3. One Sentence at a Time: A Quantitative History of Rationality in Economic Thought By Delcey, Thomas; Goutsmedt, Aurélien; Truc, Alexandre
  4. Interview with 2024 Economics Laureate James Robinson By James Robinson
  5. Георги Петров и моделът на пазарното социалистическо стопанство в България By Nenovsky, Nikolay; Marinova, Tsvetelina
  6. Nobel Prize Conversations podcast By James Robinson
  7. Interview with 2024 Economics Laureate Simon Johnson By Simon Johnson
  8. Interview with 2024 Economics Laureate Daron Acemoglu By Daron Acemoglu
  9. Nobel Prize Conversations podcast By Daron Acemoglu
  10. Nobel Prize Conversations podcast By Simon Johnson
  11. Economic Modernisation in Bulgaria under the Ottoman Empire – Between Liberalism and Economic Nationalism. Ivan Bogorov (1818/1820-1874) and Georgi Rakovski (1821-1867) By Nenovsky, Nikolay; Marinova, Tsvetelina
  12. Georgi Petrov and the model of socialist market economy in Bulgaria By Nenovsky, Nikolay; Marinova, Tsvetelina
  13. Георги Петров и моделът на пазарното социалистическо стопанство в България By Nenovsky, Nikolay; Marinova, Tsvetelina
  14. Harmony vs. Honesty: The Guilt–Repair Paradox By Bytyqi, Afrim
  15. Housing since 1945: the impact of policy change and ideology By Travers, Tony

  1. By: Davis, John B. (Department of Economics Marquette University); (Department of Economics Marquette University)
    Abstract: The Ramsey-Keynes exchange regarding the nature of probability is investigated in connection with the development of interwar Cambridge economics and Ramsey and Sraffa’s influences on Keynes and Wittgenstein. First discussed are Ramsey’s criticisms of Keynes and Wittgenstein; then Sraffa’s criticisms of Marshall and Wittgenstein. Ramsey was influenced by Peirce and pragmatism and Sraffa by Gramsci and the theory of cultural hegemony. Ramsey died in 1930 but Sraffa continued to interact with both Keynes and Wittgenstein. After his critique of Marshall he participated in the ‘Cambridge circus’ and turned to recovering the Classical economics of Ricardo. Keynes’s General Theory statement of what the essence of his theory was and Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations distinction between rules of language and language-games both parallel Sraffa’s Classical outside forces operating in the economic field argument and Gramsci’s state power and non-state institutions view. Keynes and Wittgenstein determined the nature of interwar Cambridge economics and philosophy. Ramsey and Sraffa were instigators of this change.
    Keywords: Ramsey, Keynes, Sraffa, Wittgenstein, Peirce, General Theory, Philosophical Investigations
    JEL: A12 B20 B30 B40
    Date: 2025–12
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mrq:wpaper:2025-06
  2. By: Krištofóry, Tomáš
    Abstract: Do you want to know more about an economist who before Mises conceived of economics as a science of human action? Someone who at the same time was an ordoliberal sooner than Eucken? Someone who added politics to his many talents and who saved Czechoslovakia from hyperinflation then raging in Mises' Vienna, as well as in Budapest, Berlin and other major European cities? A Neoliberal deprived of his liberties by the Nazis and communists alike? Someone who then didn't give in to the dictatorship but fought for democracy with his mighty pen? Then feel free to read my publication titled Meet Karel Engliš (1880-1961), A Prominent Czech Economist, Logician and Scholar. Introduction and his Bibliography in Foreign Languages. The publication contains an international bibliography of the works of Karel Engliš, founder of Masaryk University, a prominent Czech economist whose work was also appreciated by representatives of the Austrian school such as L. von Mises, F. A. von Hayek and I. M. Kirzner. Karel Engliš was one of the most prominent figures in European economics in the interwar period, but after 1948 the communist regime banned his publishing, lecturing and foreign activities, and his books were withdrawn from library collections. An overview of his works in English, German, French and other languages, supplemented by links to online resources and secondary literature, provides a valuable basis for a new research of his work and significance. The aim of the publication is to renew international awareness of Engliš's teleological economics and to facilitate further research into his legacy.
    Keywords: Karel Engliš, teleology, praxeology, ordoliberalism, Czechoslovakia, Central Europe, Mises, Eucken, history of economics, Austrian school, Iron Curtain
    JEL: A31 B13 B25 B31 B41 P50
    Date: 2025–10–31
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:126795
  3. By: Delcey, Thomas; Goutsmedt, Aurélien (UC Louvain - F.R.S-FNRS); Truc, Alexandre
    Abstract: This article demonstrates how unsupervised quantitative methods can enrich the history of economic thought. Using the largest English-language corpus ever assembled for the field—nearly 290, 000 economics journal articles from 1900 to 2009 with citation data—we analyze the evolution of the concept of rationality. Combining large language model–based semantic analysis with bibliometric and network methods, we identify and cluster discussions of rationality across time and scales, such as the circulation of bounded rationality and the emergence of behavioral economics. We provide an open-source interactive tool to support transparency and reuse.
    Date: 2025–12–23
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:38na2_v1
  4. By: James Robinson (University of Chicago)
    Abstract: Interview with the 2024 economic sciences laureate James A. Robinson, recorded on 6 December 2024 during Nobel Week in Stockholm, Sweden.
    Keywords: Prosperity; institutions
    JEL: O11 O43
    Date: 2024–12–06
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:nobelp:021911
  5. By: Nenovsky, Nikolay; Marinova, Tsvetelina
    Abstract: The article presents the Bulgarian economist Georgi Petrov and his importance for the political economy of socialism. The debates surrounding the economic reform in Bulgaria in the 1960s. A general view of Georgi Petrov's creative project and its logic. The basis of prices – not value and cost price, but production prices (production prices). Theoretical problems of the planned economy and property. Planning, economic levers and economic growth. Summary notes. Bibliography.
    Keywords: political economy of socialism, market economy, economic reforms, Bulgaria
    JEL: B20 B24 B31 N0 N00 P2
    Date: 2025–11–01
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:126683
  6. By: James Robinson (University of Chicago)
    Keywords: Prosperity; institutions
    JEL: O11 O43
    Date: 2025–05–21
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:nobelp:021910
  7. By: Simon Johnson (MIT)
    Abstract: Interview with the 2024 laureate in economic sciences Simon Johnson on 6 December 2024 during Nobel Week in Stockholm, Sweden.
    Keywords: Prosperity; institutions
    JEL: O11 O43
    Date: 2024–12–06
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:nobelp:021909
  8. By: Daron Acemoglu (MIT)
    Abstract: Interview with the 2024 economic sciences laureate Daron Acemoglu, recorded on 6 December 2024 during Nobel Week in Stockholm, Sweden.
    Keywords: Prosperity; institutions
    JEL: O11 O43
    Date: 2024–12–06
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:nobelp:021907
  9. By: Daron Acemoglu (MIT)
    Keywords: Prosperity; institutions
    JEL: O11 O43
    Date: 2025–06–04
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:nobelp:021906
  10. By: Simon Johnson (MIT)
    Keywords: Prosperity; institutions
    JEL: O11 O43
    Date: 2025–07–02
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:nobelp:021908
  11. By: Nenovsky, Nikolay; Marinova, Tsvetelina
    Abstract: We focus on two of the leading representatives of the Bulgarian intelligentsia during the late Ottoman Empire, Ivan Bogorov and Georgi Sava Rakovski, who engaged in discussions on economic issues. Each of them believed that the collective national and economic goal of the Bulgarians could be solved within the framework of a certain economic worldview, which seems eclectic and contradictory to the contemporary economist, but consistent and logical when taking into account the era in which the two authors lived and wrote.
    Keywords: economic modernization, Ottoman Empire, bulgarian economic thought, Bulgaria, Ivan Bogorov, Georgi Sava Rakovski
    JEL: B1 B10 B31 N00 N93
    Date: 2025–12–10
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:127299
  12. By: Nenovsky, Nikolay; Marinova, Tsvetelina
    Abstract: We provide brief information about the context of the 1963 reform. This is followed by a presentation of the main themes and ideas in Georgi Petrov's life research project, which systematically and logically derives the need for decentralisation of the economy, a transition from directive planning to economic levers, granting full autonomy to enterprises included in market mechanisms and profit incentives.
    Keywords: Socialist market reform, socialist economy, socialist and marxist theory, socialist Bulgaria, Georgi Petrov
    JEL: B24 B31 B40 N14 P2
    Date: 2025–11–26
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:127034
  13. By: Nenovsky, Nikolay; Marinova, Tsvetelina
    Abstract: In the paper we provide brief information about the context of the 1963 reform. This is followed by a presentation of the main themes and ideas in Georgi Petrov's life research project, which systematically and logically derives the need for decentralisation of the economy, a transition from directive planning to economic levers, granting full autonomy to enterprises included in market mechanisms and profit incentives
    Keywords: socialist economy, socialist market economy, socialist reforms, planning, Bulgaria, bulgarian economic thought, Georgi Petrov
    JEL: B24 B31 N14 P21
    Date: 2025–10–16
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:127162
  14. By: Bytyqi, Afrim
    Abstract: - Abstract While guilt is traditionally characterized as a moral emotion that motivates individuals to repair damaged social bonds, this paper investigates conditions under which this reparative impulse comes into tension with the ethical demand for honesty. We conceptualize Short-Term Relational Focus (STRF) as a multi-level phenomenon encompassing evolutionary pressures for social cohesion, psychological mechanisms of ego-protection, and ethical tensions between immediate harmony and long-term integrity and epistemic clarity. Drawing on experimental evidence (Li & Jain, 2021), organizational observations, and philosophical perspectives from Kant, Nietzsche, and Aristotle, the paper develops a bidirectional framework for understanding social repair. This framework examines the Guilt–Honesty Paradox from both the sender’s and the receiver’s perspective, highlighting how attempts at relational repair may unintentionally undermine trust, learning, and accountability. The paper further outlines practical strategies—supported by case illustrations, tables, and applied examples across organizational, educational, healthcare, and digital contexts—for reconciling concern for relationships with commitments to truthfulness. Keywords: Guilt; Honesty; Social Repair; Moral Emotions; Temporal Narrowing; Trust; Ethical Decision-Making
    Date: 2025–12–28
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:rjwsc_v1
  15. By: Travers, Tony
    Abstract: Housing policy in England has undergone significant reform on several occasions since 1945. Consensus approaches in the late 1940s and 50s to build large numbers of council houses and new private homes gave way to more ideologically driven policies in the 1970s and 80s. Fashions for modern architecture, system building and the layout of estates (and reactions to such fads) fed the politicisation of housing, notably in relation to attitudes to the relative benefits of owner‐occupation as compared to social renting. A substantial number of council homes were sold off at a discount under the Thatcher government's Right to Buy policy. Successive governments failed to maintain the social housing estate, whether owned by local government or housing associations. Since 2000, a new consensus has emerged where a modest increase in social housing is seen as desirable, alongside policies to encourage owner‐occupation and to improve the private rental sector.
    Keywords: housing; new towns; architecture; renting; owner-occupation; inner cities
    JEL: N0 Q15
    Date: 2025–12–12
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:130474

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