IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bus/jphile/v3y2009i1p5-24.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The social organisation of epistemology in macroeconomic policy work: the case of the IMF

Author

Listed:
  • Richard H. R. Harper

    (SocioDigital Systems Microsoft Research, Cambridge, UK)

Abstract

This paper reports an ethnographic study of work practices in the IMF, and IMF mission activity in particular. It will show how this work combines arithmetic, econometric and meeting skills with the adroit management of social processes that transform ‘incomplete’ or ‘ambiguous numbers’ into socially validated and hence ‘objective for practical purposes’ data. These data form the basis of epistemic certainty in the analytical work undertaken, and though this certainty is socially framed, it is treated as sufficient for substantive, robust and ‘real world’ macroeconomic policy making.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard H. R. Harper, 2009. "The social organisation of epistemology in macroeconomic policy work: the case of the IMF," The Journal of Philosophical Economics, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, The Journal of Philosophical Economics, vol. 3(1), pages 5-24, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bus:jphile:v:3:y:2009:i:1:p:5-24
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://jpe.ro/pdf.php?id=2870
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://jpe.ro/?id=revista&p=139
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    work practices; macroeconomics; IMF; missions; ritual;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E61 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Policy Objectives; Policy Designs and Consistency; Policy Coordination

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bus:jphile:v:3:y:2009:i:1:p:5-24. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Valentin Cojanu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aseeero.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.