Philosophy ofEconomics Rules: introduction to the symposium

Abstract

Economists have long been criticized for their use of highly idealized models. In Economics rules: Why economics works, when it fails, and how to tell the difference [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015] Dani Rodrik responds to this criticism by offering an account of models that emphasizes the diversity of models in economics. Rodrik's account presents a rare opportunity for economists and philosophers of economics to engage in a mutually beneficial exchange that could improve our understanding of the power and limits of economics, and the rights and wrongs of the dismal science. The symposium on Rodrik's Economics Rules is the first attempt to seize this opportunity.

Model diversity and the embarrassment of riches

“…Strong model pluralism is the view I endorse and what I see as the natural endpoint of a continuing trend in the philosophy of science to paying more attention to the context of models: 'For almost any aspect x of phenomenon y, scientists require multiple models to achieve scientific goal z' (Veit, 2019a, p. 6). This position is considerably stronger than any other found in the literature, such as Weisberg (2013), Ylikoski and Aydinonat (2014), Potochnik (2017), andAydinonat (2018b). These authors are defenders of moderate model pluralism: 'There exists an aspect x of a phenomenon y such that scientists need multiple models to explain/predict x' (2019a, p. 6).…”

“…Rodrik's picture has been praised by a number of philosophers of economics as a more realistic picture of economics (Aydinonat, 2018a(Aydinonat, , 2018bGrüne-Yanoff & Marchionni, 2018;Kuorikoski & Lehtinen, 2018;Mäki, 2018;Veit, 2019a), yet there are some significant lacunas regarding its details. What has been offered is an alternativebut one that needs to be refined and put to practice.…”

Pluralism in economics: its critiques and their lessons

“…Third, joint 'symbolic spaces' for exchange across research programs can also be explicitly constructed: joint symposia, conference special sessions and special issues of journals explicitly geared towards the fostering of a discourse across research programs have been proven powerful for fostering interdisciplinary research, and they can play the same role for communication across research programs as well. The recent symposium on Dani Rodrik's Economics Rules (Aydinonat, 2018) is a nice example.…”

Model Pluralism

“…Aydinonat (2018a) has suggested a different, albeit illuminating reading. He suggests that criticism is being directed against the unrealisticness of economics models.…”

“…Akin to Rodrik (2015), Levins (1966) argued against naive versions of model monism. Philosophers, such as Aydinonat (2018aAydinonat ( , 2018b, Weisberg (2007Weisberg ( , 2013 and Godfrey-Smith (2006) have argued for a more profound message in Rodriks' and Levins' respective works that I shall label moderate model pluralism.…”