The paths of classical political economy and Walrasian economics through Bowles and Gintis’ rendering of post Walrasian economics

John Finch and Robert McMaster
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John Finch: Department of Economics, University of Aberdeen, Scotland
Robert McMaster: Department of Economics, University of Aberdeen, Scotland

No 009/2005, SCEME Working Papers: Advances in Economic Methodology from SCEME

Abstract: Bowles and Gintis have, over the last twenty-five years, contributed to a Post Walrasian approach to economics drawing upon this in making policy recommendations concerning institutional design and the distribution of productive resources in society. We establish that Post Walrasian Economics is a broadly coherent system of thought, with two distinct phases, contested exchange and evolution, that Bowles and Gintis consider addresses what they term as Walras’ fiction, i.e., the Walrasian system only offers a relationship between ‘things’ as opposed to humans. Nevertheless, we argue that they perpetrate their own fiction through an inherently reductionist framework.

Keywords: contested-exchange; equilibrium; post-Walrasian; power; trust (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B10 B41 C70 P10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-01
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sti:wpaper:009/2005

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