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on History and Philosophy of Economics |
| By: | Philippe Légé (IDHES - Institutions et Dynamiques Historiques de l'Économie et de la Société - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - UP8 - Université Paris 8 - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - UEVE - Université d'Évry-Val-d'Essonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - ENS Paris Saclay - Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay, ISST - Institut des Sciences Sociales du Travail - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this chapter is to explain how the evolutionary philosophies of Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) and Friedrich A. Hayek (1899–1992) justify economic competition. By studying the analogies between biology and society, as well as Hayek's use of the concept of "selection", we will show that his thinking contains echoes of Spencer's "social Darwinism". This will lead us to question the plight of the losers in the "market order" under Hayekian liberalism. |
| Abstract: | L'objet de ce chapitre est d'exposer la façon dont les philosophies évolutionnistes de Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) et de Friedrich A. Hayek (1899-1992) justifient la concurrence économique. En étudiant les analogies entre le biologique et le social, ainsi que l'usage du concept de « sélection » dans la pensée de Hayek, nous montrerons que celle-ci contient des résurgences du « darwinisme social » spencérien. Cela nous conduira à nous interroger sur le sort que le libéralisme hayékien réserve aux perdants de « l'ordre de marché ». |
| Keywords: | Spencer, Hayek, Selection, Evolutionism, competition, sélection, évolutionnisme, concurrence |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05414504 |
| By: | Rémy Herrera (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne); Zhiming Long (THU - Tsinghua University [Beijing]) |
| Abstract: | We analyze how the French left led by F. Mitterrand and the Socialist Party failed to "change the lives" of the French. We describe the difficulties encountered by the "relaunch" policy of 1981 and the change of course carried out, first with the inflection to austerity in 1982-1983, accompanied by devaluations of the franc, then the turn to neoliberalism and financial markets in 1984-1985, with the emphasis placed on business recovery and European integration. This betrayal of the left's program, leading to social inequalities and "new poverty, " partly explains the return of the right to power as early as 1986. |
| Keywords: | France, capitalism, socialism, reformism, financial markets, currency devaluation, economic rigor, european integration |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05432514 |
| By: | Rosa Maria Marques (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo); Rémy Herrera (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | We examine the gap between the place assigned to the state in the thinking of Mises and Hayek and the policies applied by neoliberalism, i.e. its size and degree of indebtedness at a time when the economy is coming under the control of interest-bearing capital. We show that the ideas of these authors, notably on the relationship between state and society, but also in defense of meritocracy as a means of access to goods and services, were mobilized to justify the centrality of this capital and its expansion into areas hitherto managed by the state (Part I). Then we shall see that, contrary to the rhetoric, the facts indicate that the state continues to expand under neoliberalism, even if its field of activity is narrowing in social matters (Part II). |
| Abstract: | Nous examinons ici l'écart existant entre la place attribuée à l'État dans les pensées de von Mises et d'Hayek et les politiques appliquées par le néolibéralisme, c'est-à-dire sa taille et son endettement à une époque où l'économie passe sous contrôle du capital porteur d'intérêts. Nous montrons que les idées de ces auteurs, notamment sur les rapports entre l'État et la société, mais aussi en défense de la méritocratie comme moyen d'accès aux biens et services, ont été mobilisées pour justifier la centralité de ce capital et son expansion dans des domaines jusque-là gérés par l'État (Partie I). Puis nous verrons que, contrairement aux discours, les faits indiquent que l'État continue à se développer dans le néolibéralisme, même si son champ d'activités se rétrécit en matière sociale (Partie II). |
| Keywords: | (von) Mises, Social security, Social policies, Neoliberalism, State, Hayek, État, Néolibéralisme, Sécurité sociale, Politiques sociales |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05433084 |
| By: | Fabio Petri |
| Abstract: | This is a rejoinder to professor Schefold’s 2022 reply to my 2021–2022 criticism of his views on what is left of the Cambridge critique of neoclassical capital theory. I concentrate on the main disagreements. I find Schefold’s reply unconvincing on the usefulness of aggregate production functions, and also on the empirical evidence of a rarity of reswitching. I clarify better than in 2022 my reasons for rejecting his a priori approach to the probability of double switching. I insist that the impossibility to determine the endowment of capital destroys the neoclassical labour demand curve and the neoclassical investment function, leaving real wages and employment in need of a different theory, which renders a turn to a classical-Keynesian approach inevitable. |
| Keywords: | capital theory; Cambridge controversy; reswitching; aggregate production function |
| JEL: | B51 D24 D50 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:sraffa:022047 |
| By: | De Pablo Juan Carlos |
| Abstract: | ¿Habrá algo rescatable en el enfoque neoclásico? me pregunté luego de leer el libro que Javier Gerardo Milei publicó en 2024. Que para entender la decisión humana, coloca en un lugar central a los incentivos y a los desincentivos. “No es la benevolencia del carnicero la que hace que se desviva por vendernos productos, sino que él vive de ello” (el texto es mío, la idea aparece en La riqueza de las naciones, de Adam Smith). Millones de ejemplos me vienen a la cabeza, pero quiero plantear 2, referidos a la política económica vigente en un par de países; y un valioso testimonio aportado por Arnold Carl Harberger. El subsuelo de Venezuela está lleno de un recurso bien valioso, mientras que en la superficie la población tiene todo tipo de carencias… y hasta tuvo que importar combustibles. ¿Por qué? Porque la extracción de petróleo tiene que tener sentido para quien encara la actividad. En el otro extremo, en la feliz afirmación de Dani Rodrik, desde que Deng Xiao Ping asumiera el poder, “los chinos no inventaron ningún principio económico, sino que los aplicaron todos”. |
| JEL: | D0 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aep:anales:4792 |
| By: | Fix, Blair |
| Abstract: | In the world of scientific disinformation, Roger Pielke Jr. is a well known player. A political scientist by training, Pielke has a long history of being a thorn in the side of climatologists who study natural disasters. [***] Pielke’s latest entry in this genre is a 2024 paper called ‘Scientific integrity and U.S. “Billion Dollar Disasters”’. The paper takes aim at the ‘billion-dollar disasters’ dataset run by climatologists at the NOAA. As the name suggests, the database tracks the cost of US weather and climate-related disasters which have inflation-adjusted losses that exceed $1 billion. (Or rather, the database tracked these costs. The billion-dollar-disasters database was recently cancelled by the Trump regime. Afterwards, Pielke took to his blog to celebrate.) [***] Now, my goal here is not to defend the billion-dollar-disasters dataset from Pielke’s criticism. Instead, my aim is to show that Pielke’s analysis is so flawed that it undermines his own appeal ‘scientific integrity’. For his part, Pielke claims that putting climatologists in charge of disaster loss estimation is ‘problematic’, and that the job would be better left to ‘proper economists’. Furthermore, Pielke argues that the billion-dollar-disasters dataset is so faulty that it violates the NOAA’s own standards on ‘scientific integrity’. Yet while Pielke sits on this high horse, he manages to so horribly botch his own analysis that one wonders if he is unintentionally writing satire. [***] In what follows, I’ll spend a whole essay unpacking and debunking a single chart. Figure 1 shows Pielke’s published analysis of the billion-dollar-disasters dataset. The graph seems to show a steady decline in average disaster costs as a share of US GDP. The implicit message is that when climatologists warn about worsening natural disasters, they’re overreacting. If anything, economic growth seems to be making disaster costs more trivial. Or so Pielke claims. |
| Keywords: | accounting, disaster, ecology, measurement, price, United States |
| JEL: | Q5 P1 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:334359 |
| By: | Benyounes Rahouti (Université Mohammed Premier [Oujda] = Université Mohammed Ier = University of Mohammed First) |
| Abstract: | Uncertainty, as defined by Knight and Keynes in the 1920s, is now an essential key to understanding large-scale unpredictable events, such as 2020's pandemic. The inability of predictive models to anticipate the scope and impact of this unprecedented crisis has highlighted the relevance of a century-old theory that has long been marginalized in favor of predictive mathematical formalism. Beyond the economic field, this study offers an extensive and in-depth bibliometric analysis of literature to assess whether Knightian and Keynesian uncertainty remains overshadowed or whether, on the contrary, it is attracting renewed interest considering contemporary context. Using a corpus of 455 multidisciplinary articles from Scopus database from 1977 to 2024, this research uses R-Biblioshiny and VOSviewer software to provide a detailed overview of publication dynamics, key players and collaborative interactions. Through performance and scientific mapping analysis, the results reveal that the subprime crisis and the Covid shock acted as catalysts for a renewed awareness of the risk/uncertainty dichotomy, while highlighting the existence of two paradigms. The first, emerging and with a strong academic impact, tends to reintegrate this uncertainty into operational modelling frameworks, while the second, derived from heterodox economics, remains attached to its irreducible conception. |
| Keywords: | Bibliometrics, Risk, Uncertainty, Keynes, Knight, Knight Keynes Uncertainty Risk Bibliometrics |
| Date: | 2025–10–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05363875 |
| By: | Colvin, Christopher L.; Fourie, Johan |
| Abstract: | We define applied economic history as the systematic use of historical reasoning to address economic policy problems. Building on work in applied history, we argue that economic history contributes to policy not by offering ready-made lessons, but by disciplining the narratives and analogies that policymakers and the public use. Unlike conventional economic history, which begins with a past episode and asks explanatory questions, an applied approach starts from a current problem and works backwards to identify relevant historical parallels. Selecting cases, however, is only the first step: their policy relevance depends on the narratives through which they are interpreted and put to use. We synthesise work from narrative economics, organisational history, and media and memory studies to clarify how historical narratives are conceptualised as shaping beliefs and behaviour, but also how they mislead when stripped of context. Applied economic history therefore requires careful narrative construction, standards for comparison, attention to difference as well as similarity, and transparency about uncertainty. We conclude by outlining how changes to training, incentives, and institutions could support engagement by economic historians with policymaking. |
| Keywords: | applied economic history, analogical reasoning, policymaking, narrative economics |
| JEL: | B41 D78 H11 N01 Z13 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:qucehw:335019 |