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The Rise of a Mainstream in Economics

Author

Listed:
  • Michel De Vroey

    (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES))

  • Luca Pensieroso

    (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES))

Abstract

Our paper contends that the existence of mainstream economics ought to be understood as a particular case of the now widespread certification phenomenon, which defines good practices on the grounds of a compliance with well-defined standards. Basing our analysis on Leijonhufvud’s vision of the construction of economic theory, we document the fragmentation process which economics has undergone from the marginalist revolution to the present. Studying the evolution of five sub-branches of economics, we show how at the end of the 1970s loose standards for good research practices were replaced by narrower ones in each of them. We claim that this change and the emergence of a mainstream were two faces of the same process.

Suggested Citation

  • Michel De Vroey & Luca Pensieroso, 2016. "The Rise of a Mainstream in Economics," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2016026, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    • Handle: RePEc:ctl:louvir:2016026
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Yann Giraud, 2017. "The Contestable Marketplace of Ideas: Paul Samuelson’s Defense of Mainstream Economics through Textbook Making, 1967-1976," THEMA Working Papers 2017-19, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    2. Galbács, Péter, 2018. "A közgazdaságtan felszabadítása. A neoklasszikus ortodoxia és az intézményi közgazdaságtan közötti ellentét néhány módszertani kérdése [Freedom for economics. Some methodological aspects of the neo," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(1), pages 44-65.
    3. Michel De Vroey, 2016. "Bibliometric versus Inside-Knowledge History? An Assessment of Claveau and Gingras’s “Macrodynamics of Economics: A Bibliometric History”," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2016033, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    4. Russo, Alberto, 2017. "Dopo il keynesismo: teorie economiche per una (non-) politica economica [After Keynesianism: Economic Theories for a (non) Economic Policy]," MPRA Paper 83346, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Rostislav Kapeliushnikov, 2018. "Whither modern economics? Subjective semi-sociological observations," Russian Journal of Economics, ARPHA Platform, vol. 4(3), pages 285-304, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    mainstream; decision tree; neoclassical approach;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A10 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - General
    • A20 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - General
    • B20 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - General

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