Economics Is not Always Performative: Some Limits for Performativity

Nicolas Brisset ()
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Nicolas Brisset: GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UniCA - Université Côte d'Azur

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Abstract: The phenomenon of performativity has recently produced debates about the status of the economic discourse. This paper aims to discuss the subjectivist idea that if economics "performs" (shapes) the social reality, rather than merely reflecting it, then every theory can be "true". My main goal is to point out the limits of performativity in three ways. First, no theory can be performative because some do not produce empirical landmarks for the agents. Second, the social institutions restrict the performativity. Third, I emphasize the necessity for a theory to be self-fulfilling. This article is a prelude to a new kind of performative studies based on an original definition: a theory performs the world if it implies a behavioral regularity which leads to the general coordination between agents. That is to say, if it becomes a convention à la David Lewis.

Keywords: performativity; reflexivity; self-fulfilling; convention. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-05-19
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published in Journal of Economic Methodology, 2016, 23 (2), pp.37. ⟨10.1080/1350178X.2016.1172805⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01319693

DOI: 10.1080/1350178X.2016.1172805

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