What Do Economists Know?

This volume rethinks the classic question of what, how and for whom economics is produced. Drawing from a range of perspectives, from postmodernism to critical realism, it casts light on the relationship between the producers and consumers of economic knowledge, both academic and non-academic. Challenging the ivory tower view of economists as disinterested producers of scientific knowledge against the unscientific economics of the lay person, the authors advance a vision of economic knowledge as irreducibly plural and dispersed, rather than as a unified accumulation of academic thought. It collects the reflections of leading economic theorists, including Jack Amariglio, John B. Davis, Arjo Klamer, Judith Mehta, Deidre McCloskey, David Ruccio and Grahame Thompson. Review: This is a compelling set of essays, most of which revolve around the sometimes overt, sometimes tacit, assumption that knowledge in economics is generally a product of discourse, hierarchies, power dynamics, ideological hegemonies, and other such nefarious matter. -Falguni A. Sheth, Journal of Economic Issues