Description: Pluralism in economics is the view that modern approaches to studying economic phenomena are too restrictive. It is an important issue within the development of the discipline as many approaches that were once deemed to be outside the mainstream have now become part of the consensus, e.g. game theory, behavioural economics, and information economics. Pluralism and Complexity explores the philosophical background to pluralism and shows how this can be applied to modern economics. It examines key moments like the Keynesian Revolution and the New Classical counter-revolution to show how different 'epistemic visions' arise from fundamentally different ways of handling and simplifying complexity. Examining the history of aggregate economic analysis, this book argues that the propagation of a dogmatic view of science by political and self-interested elites creates a severe deficit of pluralism in macroeconomic research and offers suggestions for reversing this dangerous trend in economics and beyond.
Brief description: Alessandro Vercelli is a Life Member of the Clare Hall College, University of Cambridge (UK) and was formally full Professor of Political Economy and Environmental Economics at the University of Siena (Italy). He is the recipient of various research prizes and awards including the Schumpeter-Haberler Distinguished fellow award (2018). His most recent book is Crisis and Sustainability: The Delusion of Free Markets (2019).
Review Quotes: 'In this book, Vercelli masterfully discusses the impact on pluralism of the main dimensions of complexity. Vercelli leads the reader through a fascinating ... re-examination of economic theory through the lens of complexity, thus overcoming the reductionism of dominant economic theory. The result is a book that should be in every economist's library.' Mauro Gallegati, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona (Italy)