Sheila Dow
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Adam Smith, realism and the urban economy Open
This paper offers an overview of the existing literature on Smith and realism. Noting alignments drawn in the extant literature between Smith’s ‘History of Astronomy’ and The Theory of Moral Sentiments and critical realism in particular, t…
Smith at 300: Adam Smith on rhetoric and the philosophy of science Open
Smith at 300: Contribution by Sheila Dow"I have selected this quotation for special attention because we can identify from it, and the surrounding passages in the Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, key elements of Adam Smith’s philos…
SMITH AT 300: ADAM SMITH ON RHETORIC AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Open
“We need not be surprised … that the Cartesian philosophy …, though it does not perhaps contain a word of truth, … should nevertheless have been so universally received by all the Learned in Europe at that time. … [They] greedily receive[d…
Margaret Schabas and Carl Wennerlind, A Philosopher’s Economist: Hume and the Rise of Capitalism Open
There have been many analyses of particular aspects of Hume’s economics, but this monograph by Margaret Schabas and Carl Wennerlind is the first comprehensive book-length account in English of Hume as an economist. The aim is to address wh…
The role of credit in regional divergence: Spanish regions and Eurozone countries Open
This paper provides a theoretical account of the role of regional differences in cyclical patterns of credit availability for patterns of regional convergence or divergence. While mainstream theories imply either equalising regional capita…
The role of credit in regional divergence: Spanish regions and Eurozone countries Open
This paper provides a theoretical account of the role of regional differences in cyclical patterns of credit availability for patterns of regional convergence or divergence. While mainstream theories imply either equalising regional capita…
Pluralism and heterodox economics Open
The purpose here is to revisit the role of pluralism in heterodox economics and to make the case for its continuing centrality in heterodox economics. For many, heterodox economics could be defined in terms of pluralism contrasted with mai…
Is macro in crisis? Open
The contributions of Marc Lavoie and Mario Seccareccia to macroeconomics are many, important and various. These contributions extend beyond their own research to their leadership in fostering others’ research. They have exercised this lead…
Gender and the future of macroeconomics: an evolutionary approach Open
Gender lends itself well to an evolutionary analysis which focuses on non-equilibrium change and transformation for individuals within society. Decomposition by such an important category as gender helps us understand the economy at the ma…
Endogenous money, liquidity and monetary reform* Open
Following its revival in the 1980s, the idea of endogenous money became increasingly widely accepted. Indeed the 2008 global financial crisis was widely blamed on the untrammelled power of banks to create credit. As a result, among the ide…
Financialization, Money and the State Open
Financialization has heightened the importance of finance for socio-economic life. But different groupings of economists frame the financial sector, and its relationship with the real sector and with the state, very differently. This chapt…
Institutions and Evolution of Capitalism Open
Geoff Hodgson has made a variety of innovative contributions to thinking about the methodology of economics. Here two particular contributions are considered together: his advocacy of pluralism at different levels and his concern with hist…
Geoff Hodgson on pluralism and historical specificity Open
The chapter explores the links between Geoff Hodgson’s ontological commitments and his epistemology. On the one hand, Hodgson believes that the absence of uniformity in socio-economic systems, located in historical time and geographical sp…
Opportunities and challenges for post-Keynesian economics? Open
The current situation offers great opportunities for Post Keynesians to offer a persuasive alternative to mainstream economics. This chapter explores these opportunities and the Post-Keynesian ideas of long standing for alternative theorie…
Pluralist economics: is it scientific? Open
The aim of this chapter is to set the scene for a discussion of teaching from a pluralist perspective by considering how we produce, and convey, reliable knowledge in economics. Using Kuhn’s framework as a basis for considering different u…
Keynes on domestic and international monetary reform Open
In looking to Keynes for guidance on modern policy issues, we identify some general principles which can be carried forward to the present day. In order to address problems arising from the domestic and international monetary systems, we f…
Introduction Open
The General Theory and Keynes for the 21st century to be the most important text. 1 But the undercurrent of mainstream macroeconomics changed during the last three decades of the 20th century.Keynes's economics, or rather Keynesian economi…
Introduction Open
The chapters in this volume, and its companion volume, The General Theory and Keynes for the 21st Century, originated in a celebration marking the happy coincidence that 2016 saw the 80th birthdays both of the publication of Keynes’s Gener…
Sine praejudicio? Economics and the 2014 Scottish independence referendum Open
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the contribution of expert economic opinion to the 2014 referendum campaigns on Scottish independence. We argue that the input from economics to both sides of the debate, as well as to independent an…
Central banking in the twenty-first century Open
The recent banking crisis has opened up the discourse about central banking. The purpose here is to revisit the principles of central banking and the theoretical framework for applying them in light of these changed conditions. We focus on…
Global Currency Reform: A Proposal Open
The paper critically examines the proposal to create a Trade Referenced Currency (TRC) at the global level that can be potentially used as a common unit of account and internationally accepted means of payment. After reviewing earlier mone…
People have had enough of experts Open
As part of our ongoing symposium “Experts on Trial”, Professor Sheila Dow argues that if voters have grown contemptuous of economists’ expertise, that’s because economics has been misrepresented as a technical subject separate from politic…
Framing Financial Markets: A Methodological Account Open
The way in which financial markets are framed depends on who is doing the framing, although there are reflexive interdependencies between these framings. The underlying argument of the paper is that the way in which financial markets are f…
Keynes and Gesell : Political and Social Philosophy, Epistemology and Monetary Reform Open
It is conventional now to understand Keynes’s economics in terms of his philosophy. The particular connection has been made between his epistemology and his theory of liquidity preference and his approach to policy. Here we widen the scope…
Ontology and Theory for a Redesign of European Monetary Union Open
The Greek debt crisis opened up the policy discourse over Europe to the extent of an unprecedented extent of questioning of the original design of the Eurozone. Such a rethink requires an examination of how the European economy functions a…
Uncertainty: A Diagrammatic Treatment Open
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the difference between the mainstream and Keynesian understandings of uncertainty which persists in spite of superficial similarities. It is argued that the difference stems from the mainstream habit…
Economics and Ethics Open
First paragraph: One of the greatest barriers to meaningful debate within and about economics has been the successful mainstream rhetoric that economics is a technical subject. Where economics is presented as a science, ethical considerati…