Epistemics and Economics

A Critique of Economic Doctrines

G. L. S. Shackle

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351311625
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Economic Theory
• Index: Economics

It is Shackle's view that human conduct is chosen with a view to its consequences. But these are in the future, which cannot be directly known. Expectation will confine itself to what is deemed possible, but this leaves it free to entertain widely diverse and rival hypotheses. How can such skeins of mutually conflicting ideas serve the formation of individual or institutional policy? This is the chief question this book examines.

INDEX

accountancy

a failure of, implies neglect of orientation, 444, 445

and teleology, 133

gave economics its independence, 359

meaning of, 8, 67

acquisitive action

four modes of, 32, 33

acropolis,

is a narrow space, 229

actuality

cannot be experienced at two distinct moments, 245

moment of, is solitary, 245

adding-up problem

solution of, clinches the value- construct, 133, 139, 143, 144

solution of, is a summit from which value-theory cannot be displaced, 144

advice by the economist to policymakers,

distorted by his concentration on proportion rather than structure, 114

ambition and conservation,

their interest in common, 78

analysis

cannot reveal the firm’s necessary heuristic process, 259

analyst, the

as disembodied surveyor ofhistory, 290

analytic method

can too easily confine thought to an ex post view, 163

for practical purposes, it starts from the wrong end, 103

implicitly supposes the problem has been presented ready made, 259

is not heuristic, 103

nature of, 52–4

source of appeal of, 54

Archilochus, 30

asset(s)

all lie outside the rational field, 235

are not flows but stocks, 196

owners seek to sell those valued more highly by the market than by themselves, 195

speculative valuation of, 195

value of, looks to a future which denies us knowledge, 235

asset markets

all are speculative, 164

no unanimity at the margin in, 196

Assurgent economy

and inflation, 134

fragile stability of, 134

average, an

is true of a collection, may be false of the particulars, 72

of rival and mutually contradictory suppositions, questionable meaning of, 414

average period of production

and comparison of outputs in terms of value, 313

and double intervention of the pace of growth, 325

and growth of value ‘ by mere passage of time ’,313

and the meaning of ‘ impatience to consume ’, 325–7

calculation of, defeated by the production net, 324

calculation of, is defeated by durability, 323, 324

determination of, by confrontation of taste and available technologies, 315, 325–7

is discernible if at all in a plan or policy, 322

longer, allows a finer division of labour, 312, 313

longer, why should it be advantageous? 311–13, 327

meaning of, 309–13

meaning of, in a society intending a continuing flow of net investment, 325

measured continuously, 310, 311

measures the orientation of coexisting objects, 322

axiomatics, axiom-system

and spareness of the base of value theory, 239

contrasted with classificatory system, 30, 31

effects economy and ease of consultation, 38

formerly called a geometry, 149

is the mark of theoretical sciences, 37

its election by economists was a bold and surprising stroke, 38

nature of, 37, 38, 149

bank

characteristic of, is power to create means of payment, 204

in strict sense, defined 203, 204

bargaining

and expectations, 35

consists essentially of acti...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Introduction to the Transaction Edition
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• BOOK I ECONOMIC THEORY AND THE SCHEME OF THINGS ENTIRE
• BOOK II THE RISE OF THE RATIONAL IDEAL
• BOOK III THE DISSOLUTION OF THE RATIONAL IDEAL
• BOOK IV STATICS : THE REJECTION OF TIME
• BOOK V DIACHRONISM : THE ARTEFACT OF TIME
• BOOK VI EPISTEMICS VERSUS AXIOMATICS
• Index