The Puzzle of Modern Economics
Science or Ideology?

This book cuts through the confusion and controversy about whether modern economics has succeeded or failed.

Roger E. Backhouse (Author)

9780521825542, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 June 2010

224 pages, 2 b/w illus. 1 table
23.5 x 15.5 x 1.7 cm, 0.41 kg

'Does present-day economics make sense? In a half-dozen well-chosen case studies, Roger Backhouse takes the reader on a tour d'horizon of developments since World War II in order to ask: Is it a) dangerous mathematical formalism, b) free market ideology, or c) a vital guide to practical action? The correct answer, he concludes, is d) all of the above.' David Warsh, Economic Principals

Does economics hold the key to everything or does the recent financial crisis show that it has failed? This book provides an assessment of modern economics that cuts through the confusion and controversy on this question. Case studies of the creation of new markets, the Russian transition to capitalism, globalization, and money and finance establish that economics has been very successful where problems have been well defined and where the world can be changed to fit the theory, but that it has been less successful in tackling bigger problems. The book then offers a historical perspective on how economists have, since the Second World War, tried to make their subject scientific. It explores the evolving relationship between science and ideology and investigates the place of heterodoxy and dissent within the discipline.

1. Introduction
Part I. Economics in Action: 2. Creating new markets
3. Creating a market economy
4. Globalization and welfare
5. Money and finance
Part II. Historical Perspectives: 6. Creating a 'scientific' economics
7. The quest for rigorous macroeconomics
8. Science and ideology
9. Heterodoxy and dissent
Part III. Evaluation: 10. Economic science and economic myth
Supplementary note on the literature.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Economic growth [KCG], Economics [KC], Sociology [JHB], History of ideas [JFCX], Philosophy [HP]