Historical Epistemology &amp; the History of Economics: Views Through the Lens of Practice

Stapleford, Thomas A.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2692611

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Thus, this article draws a broader portrait of Lucas as an economist in the public debate. Instead of focusing on Lucas's theories, the article pursues an investigation of his trajectory through the "lens of practice" (Stapleford, 2017), i.e. exploring how he was "doing economics" (ibid.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Agenda without a Plan: Robert E. Lucas's Trajectory throught the Public Debate

Goutsmedt¹,

Sergi²,

Guizzo³

2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article explores Robert E. Lucas’s policy agenda and his engagement with the public debate between 1968 and 1987. It investigates how he interacted with the public debate by envisioning key principles of his macroeconomic theory and methodology, and how he promoted his policy agenda. An exploration of Lucas’s personal and professional archives sheds light on his participation in policy debates after the publication of his works, illustrating how Lucas built a discreet and cautious way of engaging with the public. Lucas did not envision an action plan, nor proposed a detailed program to implement his policy agenda. The article suggests that Lucas’s originality compared to his contemporaries was his belief on the ability of macroeconomics to scientifically devise binding policy rules that could be integrated in an economic constitution.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Agenda without a Plan: Robert E. Lucas's Trajectory throught the Public Debate

Goutsmedt¹,

Sergi²,

Guizzo³

2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Our contribution unveils two aspects of Lucas's work-his views about policy-making and his interaction with the public debate-that have been overlooked by historians of economics, especially compared to his role in shaping the theoretical turn in macroeconomics. 3 This article addresses a different perspective by pursuing an investigation of Lucas's trajectory through the "lens of practice" (Stapleford, 2017), i.e. exploring how he was "doing economics" (ibid.)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Agenda Without a Plan: Robert E Lucas's Trajectory Through the Public Debate

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article explores Robert E. Lucas's policy agenda and his engagement with the public debate between 1968 and 1987. It investigates how he interacted with the public debate by envisioning key principles of his macroeconomic theory and methodology, and how he promoted his policy agenda. An exploration of Lucas's personal and professional archives sheds light on his participation on policy debates after the publication of his topical works, illustrating how Lucas developed a unique way of dealing with science in the public debate by building a distinctive, discreet and cautious way of engaging with the public. Lucas did not embody the traditional elements of an "economic expert": he did not envision an action plan, nor proposed a detailed program to successfully implement his policy agenda. The article suggests that, unlike other economic experts, Lucas's participation in the public debate was "unintended": the public always solicited Lucas to express his opinion and advice, not the opposite.JEL Codes: B22, E30, H10

show abstract

“…In a recent paper, Thomas Stapleford (2017) suggests an alternative perspective to writing the history of economic thought, namely, by looking "through the lens of practice." He de nes practices as "collections of behavior that are teleological, subject to normative evaluation by broader groups, and exhibit regularities across people in a constrained portion of time and space" (118).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But practices and artifacts, as Stapleford (2017) observes, travel through time and space and are sustained by relations to other practices (Backhouse and Cherrier). The building and continued re ning of the large-scale macroeconometric models instantiates exactly this: starting with Jan Tinbergen in the Netherlands and for the League of Nations in the 1930s, then being updated by Klein at the Cowles Commission at Chicago (taking into account Trygve Haavelmo's probabilistic contributions) in the early 1950s, then moving to such places as the Fed, MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, the Wharton School, and consulting firms over the decades that followed.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%