Zed Books, 2008
This book is an authoritative and accessible guide to the pluralist
movement threatening to revolutionise mainstream economics. Leading figures in
the field explain why pluralism is a required virtue in economics, how it came
to be blocked and what it means for the way we think about, research and teach
economics. The first part of the book looks at how neoclassical economics gained
its stranglehold, particularly in the United States, and how the social and
intellectual underpinnings of economics have enabled it to maintain this in the
face of inconsistent evidence from the real world. This is then contrasted with
different approaches to pluralism. "Pluralist Economics" then goes on to address
the array of arguments for establishing pluralism, showing how economics came to
function as a concealed ideology and not as a science, and how value-free
economics is an illusion. Finally, it addresses the practical problems presented
by this different way of doing economics.
Review
'Edward Fullbrook's exceptional volume aims
to challenge and counter the cavalier way mainstream economists dismiss theories
and perspectives other than their own as "nonscience". Pluralism is long overdue
in economics, and this is the best single introduction to what it means for the
way we think about and use economics in the real world.' - David F. Ruccio,
University of Notre Dame 'Edward Fullbrook has done it again, with an excellent
and timely collection on an especially pertinent topic. This is an exceptionally
insightful and thought-provoking book featuring work from significant
contributors to modern heterodox economics' - Tony Lawson, University of
Cambridge 'The call for a post-autistic economics expressed the frustration of
students worldwide with a discipline that fails to engage actual economic
problems, such as unemployment, inequality and financial crisis. In Pluralist
Economics, Edward Fullbrook and his coauthors present the case for an eclectic,
diverse, tolerant and relevant alternative. They show with special clarity how
pluralism actually works in other disciplines, notably physics, and the value of
metaphor and narrative in making arguments in social science persuasive.' -
James K. Galbraith, University of Texas at Austin
About the Author
Edward Fullbrook is the founder and editor
of the Real World Economics Review (formerly the Post-Autistic Economics Review)
and webmaster of www.paecon.net. He is a research fellow in the School of
Economics at the University of the West of England. His essays on economics and
philosophy have appeared in numerous anthologies and journals. He has edited
five books on economics, including Real World Economics (2007) and A Guide to
What's Wrong with Economics (2004). His book Sex and Philosophy: Rethinking de
Beauvoir and Sartre was published in 2008.
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