Download or read book Economic Rationalism in Canberra written by Michael Pusey and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1991 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michael Pusey discusses the way that Australian policies have transformed since the 1970's.

Download or read book The Ethics of Economic Rationalism written by John Wright and published by UNSW Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work tackles economic rationalism from a moral perspective. Firstly, in non-technical language, it reviews the economic arguments for economic rationalism. It then examines the ethical defences for economic rationalism and considers its many criticisms.

Download or read book Debunking Economics written by Steve Keen and published by Zed Books. This book was released on 2001-07-28 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the score card for economics at the start of the new millennium? While there are many different schools of economic thought, it is the neo-classical school, with its alleged understanding and simplistic advocacy of the market, that has become equated in the public mind with economics. This book shows that virtually every aspect of conventional neo-classical economics' thinking is intellectually unsound. Steve Keen draws on an impressive array of advanced critical thinking. He constitutes a profound critique of the principle concepts, theories, and methodologies of the mainstream discipline. Keen raises grave doubts about economics' pretensions to established scientific status and its reliability as a guide to understanding the real world of economic life and its policy-making.

Download or read book Deductive Irrationality written by Stephen McCarthy and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2008-04-29 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Deductive Irrationality examines and critiques economic rationalism from the perspective of political philosophy. The essays in this collection analyze not only the work of founders of the discipline of economics, but also political philosophers influential in this founding and select contributors of seminal theories in modern economic thought—namely, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Adam Smith, Alfred Marshall, John Maynard Keynes, Friedrich Hayek, Gunnar Myrdal, Robert E. Lucas Jr., and John F. Muth. The main theme linking all of the essays together is that economics is a product of modern rationalism and shares with that rationalism the belief that the only real knowledge is scientific knowledge. Derived from a scientific method modeled on mathematics, this method gives both modern political science and modern economics their abstract character. Adam Smith's contribution to Western thought was more than mere economics; his innovations and his variance from previous thinkers follows Machiavelli in finding human nature in the realistic conception of examining men as how they are, rather than the classical view that we should look to the idea of man's formal excellence. To Smith, humanity emerges from a desire for self-preservation, where every worker competes to exchange the fruits of their labor with that of others. The result is a gap between the world of "common sense" and the world of theory that practitioners in both fields no longer truly understand. By adopting the perspective of political philosophy, the contributors take an approach that is alien to most economists, and in doing so address many of the currents and tensions that underlie modern economic theory and, by implication, the rational choice theory in political science.

Download or read book Models of Bounded Rationality written by Univ Of Chicago and published by Mit Press. This book was released on 1997-07 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offering alternative models based on such concepts as satisficing(acceptance of viable choices that may not be the undiscoverableoptimum) and bounded rationality (the limited extent to which rationalcalculation can direct human behavior), Simon shows concretely whymore empirical research based on experiments and direct observation, rather than just statistical analysis of economic aggregates, isneeded.

Download or read book Economic Rationalism and Rural Society in Third Century AD Egypt written by Dominic Rathbone and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1991-09-12 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reconstructs the life and workings of the Appianus estate in the Fayum district of Egypt under Roman rule in the third century AD. Basing his study on the extensive documentary evidence of the Heroninos archive, consisting of hundreds of letters and accounts on papyrus, Dr Rathbone examines the nature of rural society at the time.

Download or read book The Limits of Rationality written by Karen Schweers Cook and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-10-03 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prevailing economic theory presumes that agents act rationally when they make decisions, striving to maximize the efficient use of their resources. Psychology has repeatedly challenged the rational choice paradigm with persuasive evidence that people do not always make the optimal choice. Yet the paradigm has proven so successful a predictor that its use continues to flourish, fueled by debate across the social sciences over why it works so well. Intended to introduce novices to rational choice theory, this accessible, interdisciplinary book collects writings by leading researchers. The Limits of Rationality illuminates the rational choice paradigm of social and political behavior itself, identifies its limitations, clarifies the nature of current controversies, and offers suggestions for improving current models. In the first section of the book, contributors consider the theoretical foundations of rational choice. Models of rational choice play an important role in providing a standard of human action and the bases for constitutional design, but do they also succeed as explanatory models of behavior? Do empirical failures of these explanatory models constitute a telling condemnation of rational choice theory or do they open new avenues of investigation and theorizing? Emphasizing analyses of norms and institutions, the second and third sections of the book investigate areas in which rational choice theory might be extended in order to provide better models. The contributors evaluate the adequacy of analyses based on neoclassical economics, the potential contributions of game theory and cognitive science, and the consequences for the basic framework when unequal bargaining power and hierarchy are introduced.

Download or read book Rationality and Irrationality in Economics written by Maurice Godelier and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2014-07-08 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the result of a research project begun by the author in 1958 with the aim of answering two questions: First, what is the rationality of the economic systems that appear and disappear throughout history-in other words, what is their hidden logic and the underlying necessity for them to exist, or to have existed? Second, what are the conditions for a rational understanding of these systems-in other words, for a fully developed comparative economic science? The field of investigation opened up by these two questions is vast, touching on the foundations of social reality and on how to understand them. The author, being a Marxist, sought the answers, as he writes, 'not in philosophy or by philosophical means, but in and through examining the knowledge accumulated by the sciences.' The stages of his journey from philosophy to economics and then to anthropology are indicated by the divisions of his book. Godelier rejects, at the outset, any attempt to tackle the question of rationality or irrationality of economic science and of economic realities from the angle of an a priori idea, a speculative definition of what is rational. Such an approach can yield only, he feels, an ideological result. Rather, he treats the appearance and disappearance of social and economic systems in history as being governed by a necessity 'wholly internal to the concrete structures of social life.

Download or read book The Rise of Western Rationalism written by Wolfgang Schluchter and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1985-11-07 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Western rationalism-nature, of course, and genesis-was Max Weber's dominant historical interest. It was the grand theme of his two world historical studies, Economy and Society and The Economic Ethics of the World Religions. His studies of the relationships among economy, polity, law, and religion are lasting scholarly achievements. In this book Wolfgang Schluchter presents the most systematic analysis and elaboration ever attempted of Weber's sociology as a developmental history of the West.

Download or read book Rationality and Freedom written by Amartya Sen and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2004-03-30 with total page 756 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rationality and freedom are among the most profound and contentious concepts in philosophy and the social sciences. In this, the first of two volumes, Amartya Sen brings clarity and insight to these difficult issues.

Download or read book Individualism and Economic Order written by F. A. Hayek and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2012-12-01 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “These essays . . . bring great learning and . . . intelligence to bear upon economic and social issues of central importance to our era.” —Henry Hazlitt, Newsweek In this collection of writings, Nobel laureate Friedrich A. Hayek discusses topics from moral philosophy and the methods of the social sciences to economic theory as different aspects of the same central issue: free markets versus socialist planned economies. First published in the 1930s and 40s, these essays continue to illuminate the problems faced by developing and formerly socialist countries. F. A. Hayek, recipient of the Medal of Freedom in 1991 and winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1974, taught at the University of Chicago, the University of London, and the University of Freiburg. Among his other works published by the University of Chicago Press is The Road to Serfdom, now available in a special fiftieth anniversary edition. “There is much interesting and valuable material in this meaty . . . book which must ultimately help the world make up its mind on a vital issue: to plan or not to plan?” —S. E. Harris, The New York Times “Those who disagree with him cannot afford to ignore him . . . This is especially true of a book like the present one.” —George Soule, Nation

Download or read book The Social Construction of Rationality written by Onno Bouwmeester and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-03-16 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are many different forms of rationality. In current economic discourse the main focus is on instrumental rationality and optimizing, while organization scholars, behavioural economists and policy scientists focus more on bounded rationality and satisficing. The interplay with value rationality or expressive rationality is mainly discussed in philosophy and sociology, but never in an empirical way. This book shows that not one, but three different forms of rationality (subjective, social and instrumental) determine the final outcomes of strategic decisions executed by major organizations. Based on an argumentation analysis of six high-profile public debates, this book adds nuance to the concept of bounded rationality. The chapters show how it is socially constructed, and thus dependent on shared beliefs or knowledge, institutional context and personal interests. Three double case studies investigating the three rationalities illustrate how decision makers and stakeholders discuss the appropriateness of these rationalities for making decisions in different practice contexts. The first touches more on personal concerns, like wearing a niqab or looking at obscene art exposed in a public environment; the second investigates debates on improving the rights and position of specific minorities; and the third is based on the agreement on instrumental reasons for two kinds of investments, but the cost arguments are regarded less relevant when social norms or personal interests are violated. The Social Construction of Rationality is for those who study political economy, economic psychology and public policy, as well as economic theory and philosophy.

Download or read book Rationalism Pluralism and Freedom written by Jacob T. Levy and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers an original account of the history of liberal thought, one grounded in an institutional history of medieval pluralism and the early modern rationalizing state, and explores the deep tensions that liberal political thought rests upon.

Download or read book The Econocracy written by Joe Earle and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2017-07-06 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A century ago, the idea of 'the economy' didn't exist. Now economics is the supreme ideology of our time, with its own rules and language. The trouble is, most of us can't speak it. This is damaging democracy. Dangerous agendas are hidden inside mathematical wrappers; controversial policies are presented as 'proven' by the models of economic 'science'. Government is being turned over to a publicly unaccountable technocratic elite. The Econocracy reveals that economics is too important to be left to the economists - and shows us how we can begin to participate more fully in the decisions which affect all our futures.

Download or read book Economic Theory and the Roman Monetary Economy written by Colin P. Elliott and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-02-20 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reconceptualizes economic theory as a tool for understanding the Roman monetary system and its social and cultural contexts.

Download or read book Zombie Economics written by John Quiggin and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2012-05-06 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the graveyard of economic ideology, dead ideas still stalk the land. The recent financial crisis laid bare many of the assumptions behind market liberalism—the theory that market-based solutions are always best, regardless of the problem. For decades, their advocates dominated mainstream economics, and their influence created a system where an unthinking faith in markets led many to view speculative investments as fundamentally safe. The crisis seemed to have killed off these ideas, but they still live on in the minds of many—members of the public, commentators, politicians, economists, and even those charged with cleaning up the mess. In Zombie Economics, John Quiggin explains how these dead ideas still walk among us—and why we must find a way to kill them once and for all if we are to avoid an even bigger financial crisis in the future. Zombie Economics takes the reader through the origins, consequences, and implosion of a system of ideas whose time has come and gone. These beliefs—that deregulation had conquered the financial cycle, that markets were always the best judge of value, that policies designed to benefit the rich made everyone better off—brought us to the brink of disaster once before, and their persistent hold on many threatens to do so again. Because these ideas will never die unless there is an alternative, Zombie Economics also looks ahead at what could replace market liberalism, arguing that a simple return to traditional Keynesian economics and the politics of the welfare state will not be enough—either to kill dead ideas, or prevent future crises. In a new chapter, Quiggin brings the book up to date with a discussion of the re-emergence of pre-Keynesian ideas about austerity and balanced budgets as a response to recession.

Download or read book Altruism in the Context of Economic Rationalistic Idelogies and Systems of Healthcare and Welfare Delivery A Multi Disciplinary Approach written by Donald Gates and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2006-03 with total page 580 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work examines the two apparently contradictory concepts of Altruism and Economic Rationalism in the context of Health and Welfare Delivery. It is multi-dsiciplinary and employs a number of diciplines including: Sociology, Economics, Theology, Religion, Eccesiology, History and Political Science.