The arrow of time in economics: from Robinson's critique to the new historical economics

Michael Turk

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2010, vol. 17, issue 3, 471-492

Abstract: How time is comprehended in economics is central to the type of discipline to which economics is analogized. Rejecting the symmetrical notion of time in classical physics, Joan Robinson emphasized the importance of 'historical time', and hence history. A new generation of economists - including Paul Krugman, Paul David, and Brian Arthur - took up Robinson's challenge, seeking to create a new historical economics by relating random or 'accidental' historical events in different ways to the necessity of economic rules, and finding that, as Robinson saw, scale effects were crucial. Their efforts, however, fell short of integrating history into economics.

Keywords: Joan Robinson; Paul Krugman; Paul David; W. Brian Arthur; historical economics; scale effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1080/09672560903204981

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