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PHILOSOPHY OF ECONOMICS
kf270 (suppl.), kf330
Weeks 3-9, Mo and We 12-14, Aalto University School of Economics, Arkadia (Lapuankatu 6)
E-127.
Uskali Mäki, Aki Lehtinen and Jaakko Kuorikoski
uskali.maki@helsinki.fi
aki.lehtinen@helsinki.fi
jaakko.kuorikoski@helsinki.fi
This course provides an overview of the philosophy of economics.
The course is organized as a seminar. This means that successful students are expected to
read the supplementary articles so as to be able to discuss them during the seminar.
For each session, students are expected to e-mail a roughly one page "thinking-paper" (after a brief summary of the core message of the paper, some discussion with possible criticism and reflections, perhaps related to one's own research) to the teacher of the lecture by 11pm the previous day.
DEADLINE for essays: 15.3.2011. Please return your essay to one of us by this date. For comments you may want to visit us (Metsätalo, Unioninkatu 40A, room 521: Aki and Jaakko, room 523: Uskali. Uskali is present usually only on Mondays.)
17.1. 1. Introduction
- What is science? What is economics?
- Economics as a contested discipline
- History and functions of methodological reflection on economics
Uskali Mäki:
19.1. 2. The assumptions issue: Confusions in and around Friedman’s 1953 classic
Required reading: Friedman, Milton (1953) 'The methodology of economics', in Essays in Positive Economics, pp. 3-43,
24.1. 3. The assumptions issue: Contemporary themes
- kinds of assumptions and their justifications
Required readings: Musgrave, Alan (1981) and Mäki, Uskali (2000) (please click the title of the lecture above)
26.1. 4. Theoretical models and reality
Required reading: Mäki, Uskali (2011) "Models and the locus of their truth"
Aki Lehtinen:
31.1. 5. The role of rationality in economics (look here for supplementary bibliography, slides etc.)
Compulsory reading: [Lehtinen, Aki and Kuorikoski, Jaakko (2007)|^LehtinenKuorikoski2007.pdf]: "Unrealistic Assumptions in Rational Choice Theory", Philosophy of the Social Sciences, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 115-138.
2.2. 6. Rationality, revealed preferences and game theory
Compulsory reading: Sen, Amartya (1973): "Behaviour and the Concept of Preference", Economica, vol. 40, no. 159, pp. 241-259.
Jaakko Kuorikoski:
7.2. 7. Scientific Explanation and Economic Explanation
Compulsory reading: Hausman, Daniel (2001): "Explanation and Diagnosis in Economics", Revue Internationale De Philosophie 55 (2001): 311-26.
9.2. 8. Causality and Econometrics
Compulsory reading: [Woodward, James (2007): |^WoodwardHandbook2007.pdf]" Causal Models in the Social Sciences", in Stephen Turner and Mark Risjord (eds.): Philosophy of Anthropology and Sociology, Elsevier: 157-210.
(A bit heavy, I know. Feel free to skip section 4)
Uskali:
16.2. 9. Economics as a disciplinary institution
Required reading: Mäki, Uskali (1999) "Science as a free market: A reflexivity test in an economics of economics", Perspectives on Science 7, 486-509
- SSK (Sociology of Scientific Knowledge)
- Rhetoric of Economics
- Economics of Economics
Jaakko:
21.2. 10. Economics, other disciplines, and the unity of science
- Economics teaching others (“economics imperialism”)
- Economics learning from others
Required reading: [Kuorikoski, Jaakko and Petri Ylikoski (2010)|^eradbjem.pdf] "Explanatory relevance across disciplinary boundaries: the case of neuroeconomics", Journal of Economic Methodology 17: 219-228.
Aki:
23.2. 11. Economics and society, institutional design
Compulsory reading: Pettit, Philip (1996): ‘Institutional Design and Rational Choice’, in Robert E. Goodin (ed.) The Theory of Institutional Design. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
28.2. 12. Welfare economics and ethics
Compulsory reading: Cooter and Rappoport
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