Richard Arena

Nathalie Lazaric

Agnès Festré

'While there is growing recognition that understanding knowledge is at the very heart of economics, little work has thus far been forthcoming representing in a comprehensive and coherent way its fundamental nature and wide-ranging consequences for economic analysis. The editors are to be commended for having filled this critical gap by providing a well-organized collection of outstanding contributions. This rich and greatly needed Handbook is comprised of contributions about the role knowledge plays in the history of the discipline as well as the most significant current developments as we witness them, particularly in the branches of evolutionary, institutional and complexity economics.' – Kurt Dopfer, University of St Gallen, Switzerland Why do societies benefit differently from knowledge? How exactly does social interaction interfere with knowledge acquisition and diffusion? This original Handbook brings together a wide range of differing approaches to shed light on these questions and others relating to the role and relevance of knowledge in economic analysis. By illuminating the philosophical roots of the various notions of knowledge employed by economists, this Handbook helps to disentangle conceptual and typological issues surrounding the debate on knowledge among economists. Wide-ranging in scope, it explores fundamental aspects of the relationship between knowledge and economics – such as the nature of knowledge, knowledge acquisition and knowledge diffusion. This important compendium embraces various fields and traditions of economic analysis and discusses the role of knowledge in 21 papers from outstanding international scholars. Advanced scholars and postgraduate students interested in cross-fertilization between different fields of economic analysis will find this Handbook of considerable importance.

Handbook of Knowledge and Economics

Matthias Klaes

Sheila Dow

Economics has developed into one of the most specialised social sciences. Yet at the same time, it shares its subject matter with other social sciences and humanities and its method of analysis has developed in close correspondence with the natural and life sciences. This book offers an up to date assessment of economics in relation to other disciplines. This edited collection explores fields as diverse as mathematics, physics, biology, medicine, sociology, architecture, and literature, drawing from selected contributions to the 2005 Annual Conference of the European Society for the History of Economic Thought (ESHET). There is currently much discussion at the leading edges of modern economics about openness to other disciplines, such as psychology and sociology. But what we see here is that economics has drawn on (as well as contributed to) other disciplines throughout its history. In this sense, in spite of the increasing specialisation within all disciplines, economics has always been an open discipline and the chapters in this volume provide a vivid illustration for this. Open Economics is a testament to the intellectual vibrancy of historical research in economics. It presents the reader with a historical introduction to the disciplinary context of economics that is the first of its kind, and will appeal to practising economists and students of the discipline alike, as well as to anybody interested in economics and its position in the scientific and social scientific landscape.

Economics in Relation to Other Disciplines

Open Economics

Cécile Dangel-Hagnauer

This collection constitutes an examination of Schumpeter's legacy that is wider than any yet attempted. As one of the key economists of the twentieth century, Schumpeter's economics is viewed in the context of its relation to purer Austrian theories of the free market, Keynesian macroeconomics, the early neoclassicism of Marshall and Walras, and a persuasive argument made for its centrality to the discipline as a whole.

Richard Arena

Books

Your next favorite book is out there