Routledge Economics and Reality (Economics as Social Theory)

'No reality please. We're economists'. There is a wide spread belief that modern economics is irrelevant to the understanding of the real world. In a controversial and original study, Tony Lawson argues that the root of this irrelevance is in the failure of economists to find methods and tools which are appropriate for the social world it addresses.Supporting his argument with a wide range of examples, Tony Lawson offers a provocative account of why economics has gone wrong and how it can be put back on track. Review "Tony Lawson's book is extraordinarily interesting and profound. Surely his work will help to shape the economics of the twenty-first century. Economists of all schools are in his debt." -Mario Rizzo, New York University "In "Economics and Reality, Tony Lawson presents his carefully thought out position on the practice of economics. Even those who disagree with his conclusions will benefit from considering and having to respond to his arguments." -Warren Samuels, Michigan State University ""Economics and Reality is an important, ambitious, and radical work. It will make a valuable addition to the growing body of dissent from orthodox conceptions of economics to which this "Journal is a major contributor. ...Lawson's book is an exemplary study of the disastrous consequences of shackling an investigative project to a misguided and simplistic conception of what it is to be scientific." -"International Association for Feminist Economics