The nature and significance of Lionel Robbins’ methodological individualism

Oliveira, Thiago Dumont; Suprinyak, Carlos Eduardo

doi:10.1016/j.econ.2017.08.001

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 57 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…According to Lionel Robbins, economics is de ned as "the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses" (Robbins 1934). Robbins' rationale for focusing on the isolated individual could be treated as the starting point for economics (Oliveira and Suprinyak 2018). The three basic postulates of the Robbins' Essay − 1) that individuals can order their preferences, 2) that there exists more than one factor of production, and 3) that there is uncertainty about future scarcities -only needed "to be stated to be recognized as obvious", and there was no need for controlled experiments to validate them.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Challenges of Digital Transformation of Markets: Collaboration and Digital Assets

Yadikin

Barykin

Badenko

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The objective of this study is an ontological analysis of the digital object (DO), of a relatively recent phenomenon that has emerged in relation to the performance of production enterprises. We analyzed the additional benefits that economic actors can gain from using the DO. This object is fairly well-understood from a technical point of view; although there are many options for its definition, its basic composition and functionality are defined clearly, but currently in the economic science DO has not yet been enough considered. The DO, which first appeared as a digital twin has not been properly explored by economic science. The ontological analysis of the DO within the existing conceptual framework of economic science are presented. The DO is comprehensively examined to determine whether all the properties and characteristics of the DO are described by modern economic language or whether there is a need to introduce new concepts and categories to describe such objects. We propose to analyze the DO in terms of such economic categories as goods, innovation process, the system of division of labor, the role of market participants in the creation and use of the DO, intellectual property, etc.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Challenges of Digital Transformation of Markets: Collaboration and Digital Assets

Yadikin

Barykin

Badenko

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Probably these critics came from the epoch in which Robbins wrote his essay. In the first half of the 20th century in England, Marshall's economic theory remained the dominant theory, and in the United States of America, institutional economics was the mainstream discussion within contemporary economic thought [55].…”

Section: Lionel Robbins and The Focus On Scarcitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, after those years, a gradual movement towards a broader acceptance of Robbins' definition started to emerge, as a reflection of a tendency through which economics was becoming narrower and more technical. For this reason, by the end of the 1960s, with the development of mathematical methods in economics and the adoption of the axiomatic approach, Robbins' definition was more widely accepted [55].…”

Section: Lionel Robbins and The Focus On Scarcitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Definition of Economics in Retrospective: Two Epistemological Tensions That Explain the Change of the Study Object in Economics

Durán-Sandoval,

Uleri

2023

Philosophies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Throughout history, schools of economic thought have defined political economy—or economics—and its object of study in multiple ways. This paper reflects on the definitions of economics by schools of economic thought and also proposes the concepts of value and scarcity as key concepts to explain the differences between them. The most important findings of the paper are: (a) the ontological and epistemological characteristics of the concept of value and scarcity have shaped the definitions of economics; (b) the boundaries of the study object of economics have been expanded since today’s mainstream economics deals with multiple topics as diverse as crime, education, development, health, etc. However, the methodological tools used in mainstream economics have been narrowed since approaches such as the philosophical, ethical, historical, and institutional approaches have been left behind; (c) the part of reality that mainstream economics can grasp have left behind important issues of the contemporary world, such as gender, social, and environmental issues. A clear understanding of the scope and boundaries of economics could help to define more realistic research questions for economic science, and it would help to define new economic paradigms that address the contemporary issues.

show abstract

“…According to Lionel Robbins, economics is defined as "the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses" [44]. Robbins' rationale for focusing on the isolated individual could be treated as the starting point for economics [45]. The three basic postulates of the Robbins' Essay-(1) that individuals can order their preferences, (2) that there exists more than one factor of production, and (3) that there is uncertainty about future scarcities -only needed "to be stated to be recognized as obvious", and there was no need for controlled experiments to validate them.…”

Section: Properties Of Do As a Commoditymentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Challenges of Digital Transformation of Markets: Collaboration and Digital Assets

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cyber-physical system (CPS) and digital twin (DT) technologies are the key enablers of smart manufacturing. The main idea of CPS is to build bi-directional interaction channels between the physical and cyber worlds. The research gap is ontological consideration of the concept of the digital object (DO) as a representation of a physical object (PO) in the digital space/world. The objective of this study is an ontological analysis of the digital object (DO). This object is fairly well-understood from a technical point of view; although there are many options for its definition, its basic composition and functionality are defined clearly, but currently in the economic science DO has not yet been enough considered. The DO, which first appeared as a digital twin has not been properly explored by economic science. Authors attempt to determine whether all the properties and characteristics of the DO are described by modern economic language or whether there is a need to introduce new concepts and categories to describe such objects. The ontological analysis of the DO within the existing conceptual framework of economic science is presented. The result of the research is comprehensive study of DO which allows the consideration of the additional benefits that economic actors can gain from using the DO. We propose to analyze the DO in terms of such economic categories as goods; innovation process; the system of division of labor; the role of market participants in the creation and use of the DO; intellectual property; etc.

show abstract

The nature and significance of Lionel Robbins’ methodological individualism

Cited by 9 publications

References 57 publications

Global Challenges of Digital Transformation of Markets: Collaboration and Digital Assets

Global Challenges of Digital Transformation of Markets: Collaboration and Digital Assets

Definition of Economics in Retrospective: Two Epistemological Tensions That Explain the Change of the Study Object in Economics

Global Challenges of Digital Transformation of Markets: Collaboration and Digital Assets

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About