IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/revpoe/v9y1997i1p5-17.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Knowing and Acting: on uncertainty in economics

Author

Listed:
  • David Levine

Abstract

Economists who speak of uncertainty tend to attribute it to the objective, external, world, which they sometimes describe as being uncertain. However plausible this way of speaking about uncertainty, it also causes problems. This essay explore some of these problems, which have to do with what it means to attribute uncertainty to the state of the world, particularly to bring in the flow of 'historical' time. The essay advances the idea that uncertainty be understood not as an intrinsic attribute of the flow of time, but in connection with a specific moment in human history and the situation in which individuals find themselves at that moment. The essay focuses attention on the status of the subject of agent in economics, and the conditions under which knowing and acting are possible. Special emphasis is placed on the implications for knowing and acting on the distinction between traditional and modern society.

Suggested Citation

  • David Levine, 1997. "Knowing and Acting: on uncertainty in economics," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 5-17.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:revpoe:v:9:y:1997:i:1:p:5-17
    DOI: 10.1080/09538259700000016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09538259700000016
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09538259700000016?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. J. M. Keynes, 1937. "The General Theory of Employment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 51(2), pages 209-223.
    2. Paul Davidson, 1991. "Is Probability Theory Relevant for Uncertainty? A Post Keynesian Perspective," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 129-143, Winter.
    3. repec:bla:econom:v:40:y:1973:i:159:p:241-59 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Robert L. Heilbroner, 1982. "The Socialization of the Individual in Adam Smith," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 14(3), pages 427-439, Fall.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Giocoli, Nicola, 2003. "Structural change and 'new facts' in Pantaleoni's non-equilibrium dynamics," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 213-236, June.
    2. Abbas Mirakhor, 2014. "Foundations of risk-sharing finance: an Islamic view," Chapters, in: Mervyn K. Lewis & Mohamed Ariff & Shamsher Mohamad (ed.), Risk and Regulation of Islamic Banking, chapter 6, pages 107-128, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roos, Michael W. M., 2015. "The macroeconomics of radical uncertainty," Ruhr Economic Papers 592, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    2. Himounet, Nicolas, 2022. "Searching the nature of uncertainty: Macroeconomic and financial risks VS geopolitical and pandemic risks," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 1-31.
    3. Urban Sušnik, 2016. "Janus Ante Portas," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 48(3), pages 417-437, September.
    4. Alfonso Palacio Vera, 2008. "The "New consensus"and the Post-Keynesian approach to the analysis of liquidity traps," Documentos de trabajo de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales 08-03, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales.
    5. Gilberto A. Libanio, 2004. "Unit roots in macroeconomic time series: a post Keynesian interpretation," Textos para Discussão Cedeplar-UFMG td233, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
    6. Jan-Oliver Menz, 2010. "Uncertainty, social norms and consumption theory: Post and New Keynesian approaches," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 7(1), pages 125-146.
    7. Herr, Hansjörg, 2009. "Time, expectations and financial markets," IPE Working Papers 03/2009, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    8. Ekaterina Svetlova & Henk van Elst, 2012. "How is non-knowledge represented in economic theory?," Papers 1209.2204, arXiv.org.
    9. Fontana, Giuseppe & Gerrard, Bill, 2004. "A Post Keynesian theory of decision making under uncertainty," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 619-637, October.
    10. Amitava Krishna Dutt, 2015. "Uncertainty, power, institutions, and crisis: implications for economic analysis and the future of capitalism," Review of Keynesian Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 3(1), pages 9-28, January.
    11. Bachner, G. & Mayer, J. & Steininger, K.W. & Anger-Kraavi, A. & Smith, A. & Barker, T.S., 2020. "Uncertainties in macroeconomic assessments of low-carbon transition pathways - The case of the European iron and steel industry," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    12. Nathalie Moureau & Dorothée Rivaud Danset, 2004. "L'incertitude dans les théories économiques," Post-Print hal-03995208, HAL.
    13. Bélyácz, Iván, 2013. "Várakozások, bizonytalanság, valószínűség. Értekezés a kockázat számszerűsítésének korlátairól [Expectations, uncertainty and probability. An assessment of the limits to the quantification of risk]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(7), pages 749-780.
    14. Richard Arena & Eric Nasica, 2021. "Keynes's Methodology and the Analysis of Economic Agent Behavior in a Complex World," GREDEG Working Papers 2021-10, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    15. Jamee K. Moudud, 2010. "Strategic Competition, Dynamics, and the Role of the State," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 4241.
    16. Amal Sanyal, 2005. "Keynes’ Metaphor of the Newspaper Competition: A Model," Macroeconomics 0501015, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Dequech, David, 2006. "The new institutional economics and the theory of behaviour under uncertainty," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 109-131, January.
    18. Junankar, Pramod N. (Raja), 2016. "On Measuring Uncertainty: Snakes and Ladders," IZA Discussion Papers 10244, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Herr, Hansjörg, 2013. "An analytical framework for the Post-Keynesian macroeconomic paradigm," IPE Working Papers 23/2013, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    20. Baddeley, M., 2011. "A Behavioural Analysis of Online Privacy and Security," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1147, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.

    More about this item

    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:taf:revpoe:v:9:y:1997:i:1:p:5-17. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CRPE20 .

    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.