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on History and Philosophy of Economics |
| By: | Sascha O. Becker |
| Abstract: | This chapter explores the intersection of religion and economics on the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, first published in 1776. While Smith is often viewed as a secular figure in economics, his work was deeply influenced by the moral philosophy of his time, which was shaped by Christian thought. I discuss how economists think about the religious themes in Smith’s work in the 21st century and review what we know today about the connection between religion and economic outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Adam Smith; religion |
| JEL: | B1 B2 N3 N9 P5 Z12 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:hpaper:136 |
| By: | Alexandre Truc (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UniCA - Université Côte d'Azur); François Claveau (UdeS - Université de Sherbrooke = University of Sherbrooke [Sherbrooke]); Catherine Herfeld (Leibniz Universität Hannover = Leibniz University Hannover); Vincent Larivière (UdeM - Université de Montréal) |
| Abstract: | This study examines gender diversity among authors in philosophy and methodology of economics, comparing it to the disciplines of economics and philosophy. Using bibliometric methods, we find that philosophy and methodology of economics, as an interdisciplinary field, consistently had a lower share of women authors than its parent disciplines, which are the two social sciences and humanities disciplines that are the furthest from gender parity. Although homogeneity compounding generally characterizes the whole field of philosophy and methodology of economics, one small and temporary subfield, making contributions to heterodox economics, structural realism, and the discussion on pluralism in economics, constituted a pocket of gender diversity. Alongside a more general discussion of possible reasons behind the striking gender imbalance in the field, we also elaborate on possible reasons for the limited size and duration of this pocket of diversity. |
| Keywords: | Scientometrics, diversity, gender, philosophy of economics, bibliometrics |
| Date: | 2025–07–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05543110 |
| By: | Şentürk, Recep; Aysan, Fatma Nur; Aysan, Ahmet Faruk; Özalkan, Seda |
| Abstract: | This article proposes a novel moral synthesis between Adam Smith’s Enlightenment conception of the impartial spectator and the Abrahamic concept of Ādamiyyah. It argues that while Smith’s theory offers a robust model of internal moral regulation, its reliance on socially constructed norms leaves it vulnerable to moral relativism and cultural fragmentation. In contrast, Ādamiyyah, rooted in Qur’anic anthropology, provides a fixed ontological foundation for human dignity, affirming rights and duties by virtue of being human. Through a comparative philosophical methodology, this paper demonstrates that Ādamiyyah can validate self-regard as sacred and universal, while also anchoring the impartial spectator in a transcendent framework of accountability. Ibn Khaldūn’s notion of wāziʿ min anfusihim, the internal restraining power, offers an applied articulation of this synthesis. It mirrors Smith’s impartial spectator as a mechanism of self-regulation, yet grounds it in the Adamic dignity of Ādamiyyah, where moral restraint links the self to both divine accountability and social order. The article further employs the metaphor of the fixed-point theorem from mathematics to conceptualize Ādamiyyah as an invariant moral constant, stabilizing ethical reasoning across cultural and technological transformations. By addressing both individual moral formation and institutional justice, this framework resolves the micro–macro divide in ethics. The paper concludes by proposing that this integration contributes to the emerging discourse on “Rooted Futures, ” a call to design inclusive, ethically grounded futures by drawing on the enduring insights of classical moral traditions, and to renew the Adamic covenant of human dignity that signifies the primordial moral bond between humanity and God vertically, and among human beings horizontally. Reclaiming this covenant not only restores a global moral order grounded in justice, equality, and the inviolability of every person, but also provides the impartial spectator with the transcendent moral anchor it lacked, thereby closing the gap between self-regard and universal moral responsibility. |
| Keywords: | Ādamiyyah; Impartial Spectator; Self-Love; Adam Smith; Moral Psychology; Islamic Ethics; Comparative Ethics; Ibn Khaldun; Fixed-point theorem. |
| JEL: | A13 B12 D63 P16 Z12 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:128309 |
| By: | François Claveau (UdeS - Université de Sherbrooke = University of Sherbrooke [Sherbrooke]); Jacob Hamel-Mottiez (ULaval - Université Laval [Québec]); Alexandre Truc (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UniCA - Université Côte d'Azur); Conrad Heilmann (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | We present bibliometric evidence for increasing estrangement between the philosophy of economics and economics itself. Our analysis centers on research articles published in the Journal of Economic Methodology (JEM) between 1994 and 2021. We analyze the citations within these research articles, in particular with respect to the citations of economics. Our results are fourfold. (1) The share of economic citations in JEM articles has been decreasing. (2) The remaining economic citations in JEM articles are increasingly older relative to citation patterns within economics. (3) The profile of economic citations in JEM articles is increasingly dissimilar when compared to what is cited within economics. (4) There is decreasing diversity with regards to the share of attention towards different economic subfields in the articles published in JEM when compared to economics. We discuss interpretations of this evidence for estrangement between philosophy of economics and economics. |
| Keywords: | B20, scientometrics, bibliometrics, digital humanities, diversity, philosophy of economics |
| Date: | 2025–07–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05543086 |
| By: | Alexandre Truc (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UniCA - Université Côte d'Azur) |
| Abstract: | Disciplinary mobility occurs when researchers publish outside their disciplines of origin. It is an important mechanism of interdisciplinarity and knowledge transfer. Behavioral economics (BE) was founded by two psychologists, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, who used disciplinary mobility to influence economics. In this article, we study the disciplinary mobility of eight core behavioral economists to better understand how it has influenced the early development of BE and the interdisciplinary practices of later behavioral economists. Besides the movement of psychologists toward the core of economics, we identify an outward movement of economists away from the discipline. This movement away from economics has allowed some behavioral economists to escape some of the normative traditions of economics while establishing new forms of scientific legitimacy for economists. This has enabled them to push the frontiers of economics and promote a more radical approach to BE at the cost of an increasingly weaker relationship with the core concerns of economics. |
| Abstract: | La mobilité disciplinaire est le fait de publier hors de sa discipline d'origine. Il s'agit d'un mécanisme important d'interdisciplinarité et de transfert de connaissances. L'économie comportementale (EC) a été créée par deux psychologues, Daniel Kahneman et Amos Tversky, qui ont utilisé la mobilité disciplinaire pour influencer l'économie. Dans cet article, nous étudions la mobilité disciplinaire de huit économistes comportementaux afin de mieux comprendre comment cette mobilité a influencé le développement et les pratiques interdisciplinaires de l'EC. Outre le mouvement des psychologues vers le cœur de l'économie, nous identifions aussi un mouvement de certains économistes vers d'autres disciplines. Ce mouvement d'éloignement a permis à certains économistes comportementaux de trouver de nouvelles sources de légitimité scientifique dans d'autres disciplines, tout en échappant à certaines traditions normatives de l'économie. Cela leur a permis de repousser les frontières de l'économie et de promouvoir une approche plus radicale de l'EC au prix d'une relation de plus en plus ténue avec l'économie . |
| Keywords: | Behavioral Economics, Interdisciplinarity, Social Network Analysis |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05543132 |
| By: | Peter J. Dolton; Richard S. J. Tol |
| Abstract: | The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics has been awarded annually since 1969. Who wins the prize is a topic of much interest and tracks the whole course of the academic discipline over the last 57 years. Explaining who wins the prize in any given year is a complex process, which involves the subtle endogeneity of the choice of the field and the individual(s) who should be honoured. Citations, track records, networks of past winners, institutional factors along with field rotation and Economic Prize Committee composition may all play a role. A dynamic sample involving a changing stock of would-be candidates along with a moving flow -- both into and out of the sample -- add complexities to the modelling. We find robust evidence that the Nobel Prize rotates in a semi-regular way between the fields of economics. Earlier awards were for a single paper, later ones for a body of work. Networks do not matter, but having a Nobel student or co-author does. There is some evidence that the personal preferences of Committee members had an effect on either field or individual winner. The Committee's decisions changed after Lindbeck retired. |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2603.20767 |
| By: | Balazs Egert |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the contributions of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics laureates, Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt, to our understanding of innovation-driven economic growth, situating their work within the broader evolution of modern growth theory and empirical evidence. It highlights why the Industrial Revolution marked a transition to sustained, self-reinforcing technological progress and shows how Mokyr's emphasis on knowledge, culture and institutions complements Aghion and Howitt's Schumpeterian framework, which formalises innovation as a competitive process of firm entry, exit and technological replacement. The paper then uses these frameworks to interpret the widespread productivity slowdown observed in advanced OECD economies since the mid-2000s, arguing that weakened creative destruction, slower diffusion of frontier technologies, declining business dynamism and policy headwinds are key explanatory factors. |
| Keywords: | innovation, productivity, economic growth, creative destruction, institutions |
| JEL: | O30 O40 O43 L16 N10 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12572 |
| By: | Alexandre Truc (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UniCA - Université Côte d'Azur) |
| Date: | 2025–02–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05543096 |
| By: | Sandro Ambuehl; Rahul Bhui; Heidi C. Thysen |
| Abstract: | A rapidly growing literature in economics studies how people form beliefs about the causal structures that link economic variables, and what happens when those beliefs are mistaken. We survey this literature and connect it to a large body of related research in cognitive science. After providing an accessible introduction to causal Directed Acyclic Graphs, the dominant modeling approach, we review theory and evidence addressing three nested questions: how individuals reason within known structures, how they estimate their parameters, and how they learn causal structures. We then discuss methodological challenges and describe applications in microeconomics, macroeconomics, political economy, and business. |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2603.29070 |
| By: | Martine Long (CJB - Centre Jean Bodin : Recherche Juridique et Politique - UA - Université d'Angers, GIS-Grale - Groupe de recherche sur l'administration locale en Europe - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Although universal income is now widely regarded as a "left-wing idea", historically it has been defended by very diverse currents of thought ranging from ultra-liberals to orthodox communists. Despite different names and assumptions, three elements characterize this notion: the individual character, the universal character and finally the unconditionality. Beyond controversies, at a time when the main inequality is that of wealth, universal income would be a means to rebuild society, to fight against the categorization of devices and individuals and to restore some equity. |
| Abstract: | si le revenu universel est aujourd'hui assez largement connoté comme étant une « idée de gauche », historiquement, il a été défendu par des courants de pensée très divers allant des ultra-libéraux aux communistes orthodoxes. Malgré des appellations et des présupposés différents, trois éléments caractérisent cette notion : le caractère individuel, le caractère universel et enfin l'inconditionnalité. Au-delà des controverses, à une époque où la principale inégalité est celle du patrimoine, le revenu universel serait un moyen de refaire société, de lutter contre la catégorisation des dispositifs et des individus et de rétablir une certaine équité. |
| Keywords: | égalité des chances, concept de vie bonne, individualité, inconditionnalité |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05545013 |
| By: | Antonio Paradiso (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice); Claudio Sardoni (Sapienza University of Rome); Andrea Teglio (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice) |
| Abstract: | This article develops a discrete-time model of economic growth inspired by classical thought, which unifies within a single formal framework the fundamental insights of Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and Thomas Robert Malthus. On the analytical level, the model allows for: (i) deriving a compact relationship between the output growth rate and the effective net profit rate, as well as an economic relevance condition that precludes degenerate trajectories; (ii) characterizing the distribution of income between profits and rents as a function of technological parameters (labor productivity, land–labor ratio, unit rent), highlighting the role of the reinvested profit share; (iii) specifying three variants—Smithian, Ricardian, and Malthusian— obtained solely by modifying the rule governing labor productivity formation and/or population dynamics. The model provides a unified formal framework to represent and compare the three main classical perspectives on growth, elucidating the connection between intertemporal dynamics and income distribution through a tool suitable for both theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. |
| Keywords: | Classical economic growth; Growth regimes; Structural change; Nonlinear dynamics; Malthusian trap |
| JEL: | B12 N13 O11 O41 C62 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2026:12 |
| By: | Snir, Avichai; Levy, Dudi; Wang, Dian; Chen, Haipeng (Allan); Levy, Daniel |
| Abstract: | We use survey experiments to demonstrate that manipulating participants’ perceptions of the context can affect their decisions. We ran three survey experiments in the U.S. and Israel with participants from both economics and non-economics majors. In the experiments, participants face a tradeoff between profit maximization (market norm) and workers’ welfare (social norm). Our experimental setup enables us to discriminate between the self-selection and indoctrination effects. Existing studies find that economics and non-economics students make different choices in such situations, which the studies argue is because of differences in personality traits between economics students and others. While such differences might exist, we argue that context also plays an important role. Using priming to manipulate the context, we demonstrate that when participants receive cues signaling that their decision has an economic context, both economics and non-economics students tend to maximize profits. When participants receive cues emphasizing social norms, on the other hand, both economics and non-economics students are less likely to maximize profits. We find that the role of context in determining behavior is at least as large as the baseline differences between economics and non-economics students. |
| Keywords: | Market Norms; Social Norms; Self-Selection; Indoctrination; Self-Interest; Economic Man; Rational Choice; Fairness; Experimental Economics; Laboratory Experiments; Priming; Economists vs. Non-Economists |
| JEL: | A11 A12 A13 A20 B40 C90 C91 D01 D63 D91 P10 |
| Date: | 2026–03–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:128298 |
| By: | Heine, Michael; Herr, Hansjörg |
| Abstract: | John Maynard Keynes clearly recognized the inherent crisis-proneness of capitalist economies and that, for the most part, they did not represent a meritocracy. The lion's share of non-labour income in the form of interest, dividends, or profit distributions is pocketed by households that do not contribute to any entrepreneurial activity. According to Keynes' idea, large corporations should be socialized to control investment. To guarantee sufficient consumer demand, a relatively equal distribution of income and wealth, as well as the elimination of income that is not backed by any performance in the form of work or entrepreneurial activity, is needed. Public utilities such as water supply and local public transportation should remain under the ownership of local authorities. Keynes saw balanced trade and current accounts as an element of fair globalization. International capital flows should be largely controlled. He provided important elements of an ecological transformation and the macroeconomic management of an ecologically and socially sustainable economy. |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:gluwps:339601 |