Reflexivity and Economics: George Soros's Theory of Reflexivity and the Methodology of Economic Science

ISBN-13: 9780367030070 / Angielski / Miękka / 2019 / 156 str.

John B. Davis; D. Wade Hands

Opis

The form of ‘reflexivity’ – defined by the dictionary as that which is ‘directed back upon itself’ – that is most relevant to economic methodology is that where observation of the economy leads to ideas that change behavior, which in turn changes (is directed back upon) the economy itself. This book discusses George Soros’ ideas about reflexivity and his argument that reflexivity has been neglected in mainstream theorizing, and that this neglect can be held responsible for the failure of economists to predict, explain, or offer a solution for events such as the recent financial crisis. This book was originally published as a special issue of The Journal of Economic Methodology.

Spis treści

Introduction – Reflexivity and economics: George Soros’s theory of reflexivity and the methodology of economic science  1. Fallibility, reflexivity, and the human uncertainty principle  2. Reflexivity, complexity, and the nature of social science  3. Reflexivity unpacked: performativity, uncertainty and analytical monocultures  4. George Soros: Hayekian?  5. Reflections on Soros: Mach, Quine, Arthur and far-from-equilibrium dynamics  6. Soros’s reflexivity concept in a complex world: Cauchy distributions, rational expectations, and rational addiction  7. Hypotheses non fingo: Problems with the scientific method in economics  8. Fallibility in formal macroeconomics and finance theory  9. Reflexivity and equilibria  10. Reflexivity, expectations feedback and almost self-fulfilling equilibria: economic theory, empirical evidence and laboratory experiments  11. Soros and Popper: on fallibility, reflexivity, and the unity of method  12. Reflexivity, uncertainty and the unity of science  13. On the role of reflexivity in economic analysis  14. Broader scopes of the reflexivity principle in the economy