Economics as a zoo. Economists should select labels that advance understanding

Thomas Colignatus (tc-tc@kpnmail.nl)

General Economics and Teaching from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: The world has 6 billion people, and rising, and we like them all to know a little bit of economics. This means that there is a huge market for economic theory, economics textbooks and teachers. As groups of economists have the objective to get a little bit of the action, a key strategy seems to be to label oneself differently, say X, so that all customers can be told that if they want the real thing then they need X. What to think of labels like "realistic economics", "heterodox economics" and the "post-autistic economics network" ? If you don't join, are you non-realistic, orthodox and autistic ? Economics is in danger of turning into a zoo. As the animals have taken over the zoo too, there is nothing to control them but common sense. Common sense can be taxed needlessly. The preferred strategy is to provide quality, and then add proper labels that advance understanding.

JEL-codes: A00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2005-02-27
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