 Shared Economic Thought and the Neglect of Social Costs: Reflections on Why Progressive Economists Often Stick to Conventional WisdomJournal of Economic Issues, 2014, vol. 48, issue 4, 1113-1132 Abstract: The paper deals with the lack of attention that many socially minded economists pay to social issues, with social costs being a special case. It argues that while these economists acknowledge that social costs exist, and are rooted in the way the economy functions, they do not frame their economic inquiries accordingly. This is because they believe that scientific dialogue is possible only by accepting a commonly shared ground for scientific inquiry that focuses on restricted, but generally accepted goals. This behavior obscures a major implication of systemic openness: The choice of goals and the way scientific inquiry is carried out do not depend on once-and-for-all criteria, but require the explicit formulation of a range of value judgments. The conclusion of the paper is that it is possible to deal with social issues while pursuing scientific dialogue, but this requires framing the dialogue in a twofold manner: identifying the shared grounds of inquiry and identifying the specific issues to be investigated Date: 2014 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mes:jeciss:v:48:y:2014:i:4:p:1113-1132 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.2753/JEI0021-3624480412 Access Statistics for this article More articles in Journal of Economic Issues from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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