The Short Rise and Long Fall of heterodox Economics in germany After the 1970s: Explorations in a Scientific Field of Power and Struggle

Arne Heise and Sebastian Thieme

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: In the context of ongoing criticisms of the lack of pluralism in economics, the present article aims to discuss the development of ‘heterodox’ economics since the 1970s. Following Lakatos’s concept of scientific research programs (srp), and concentrating on the situation in Germany, the article will discuss classifications of economics, and will specify the understanding of diversity in the light of ‘axiomatic variations’ of the economic mainstream. This will form the basis for the subsequent description of the development of heterodoxy in Germany, with special reference to the founding of new universities and the reform movements in the 1970s. It can be shown that the heterodox scene flourished in this period, but that this pluralization remained fragmented and short-lived; by the 1980s at the latest heterodoxy was again on its way to marginalization. The history of heterodoxy in Germany thus presents itself as an unequal ‘battle of the paradigms,’ and can only be told as the story of a failure.

Keywords: Heterodox economics; pluralization; philosophy of science; sociology of science (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A14 B40 B50 N01 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-hme, nep-hpe, nep-pke and nep-sog
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Published in Journal of Economic Issues 4.L(2016): pp. 1105-1130

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:80022

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