Theory and Reality in Financial Economics

Theory and Reality in Financial Economics
Author: George M. Frankfurter
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2007
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9812770003

The current literature on financial economics is dominated by neoclassical dogma and, supposedly, the notion of value-neutrality. However, the failure of neoclassical economics to deal with real financial phenomena suggests that this might be too simplistic of an approach. This book consists of a collection of essays dealing with financial markets'' imperfections, and the inability of neoclassical economics to deal with such imperfections. Its central argument is that financial economics, as based on the tenets of neoclassical economics, cannot answer or solve the real-life problems that people face. It also shows the direct relationship between economics and politics OCo something that is usually denied in academic models, given that science is supposed to be value-neutral. In this thought-provoking and avant-garde book, the author not only exposes what has gone wrong, but also suggests reforms to both the academic and the political-economic systems that might help make markets fair rather than efficient. Drawing on interdisciplinary fields, this book will appeal to readers who are interested in finance, economics, business, the political economy and philosophy. Sample Chapter(s). Foreword (37 KB). Chapter 1: Method and Methodology (146 KB). Contents: Method and Methodology; What is All Efficiency?; Still Autistic Finance; The Young Finance Faculty''s Guide to Publishing; Prolific Authors in Finance; For-Profit Education: An Idea That Should be Put to Rest?; Weep Not for Microsoft: Monopoly''s Fatal Exception; The Socio-Economics of Scandals; Desperately Seeking Toto; And Now for Something Entirely Different; After the Ball; Capitalism or Industrial Fiefdom; The Theory of Fair Markets (TFM): Toward a New Finance Paradigm. Readership: Graduate students of finance; students of economics, economic methodology and philosophy of science."

Economics and Reality

Economics and Reality
Author: Tony Lawson
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 388
Release: 1997
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780415154208

Discusses and critiques the current practice of economics.

The End of Theory

The End of Theory
Author: Richard Bookstaber
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2019-04-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0691191859

An in-depth look at how to account for the human complexities at the heart of today’s financial system Our economy may have recovered from the Great Recession—but not our economics. The End of Theory discusses why the human condition and the radical uncertainty of our world renders the standard economic model—and the theory behind it—useless for dealing with financial crises. What model should replace it? None. At least not any version we’ve been using for the past two hundred years. Richard Bookstaber argues for a new approach called agent-based economics, one that takes as a starting point the fact that we are humans, not the optimizing automatons that standard economics assumes we are. Sweeping aside the historic failure of twentieth-century economics, The End of Theory offers a novel perspective and more realistic framework to help prevent today's financial system from blowing up again.

The Provoked Economy

The Provoked Economy
Author: Fabian Muniesa
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 137
Release: 2014-05-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1135090025

Do things such as performance indicators, valuation formulas, consumer tests, stock prices or financial contracts represent an external reality? Or do they rather constitute, in a performative fashion, what they refer to? The Provoked Economy tackles this question from a pragmatist angle, considering economic reality as a ceaselessly provoked reality. It takes the reader through a series of diverse empirical sites – from public administrations to stock exchanges, from investment banks to marketing facilities and business schools – in order to explore what can be seen from such a demanding standpoint. It demonstrates that descriptions of economic objects do actually produce economic objects and that the simulacrum of an economic act is indeed a form of realization. It also shows that provoking economic reality means facing practical tests in which what ought to be economic or not is subject to elaboration and controversy. This book opens paths for empirical investigation in the social sciences, but also for the philosophical renewal of the critique of economic reality. It will be useful for students and scholars in social theory, sociology, anthropology, philosophy and economics.

How the Economy Works

How the Economy Works
Author: Roger E. A. Farmer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2010-04-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0199756376

"Of all the economic bubbles that have been pricked," the editors of The Economist recently observed, "few have burst more spectacularly than the reputation of economics itself." Indeed, the financial crisis that crested in 2008 destroyed the credibility of the economic thinking that had guided policymakers for a generation. But what will take its place? In How the Economy Works, one of our leading economists provides a jargon-free exploration of the current crisis, offering a powerful argument for how economics must change to get us out of it. Roger E. A. Farmer traces the swings between classical and Keynesian economics since the early twentieth century, gracefully explaining the elements of both theories. During the Great Depression, Keynes challenged the longstanding idea that an economy was a self-correcting mechanism; but his school gave way to a resurgence of classical economics in the 1970s-a rise that ended with the current crisis. Rather than simply allowing the pendulum to swing back, Farmer writes, we must synthesize the two. From classical economics, he takes the idea that a sound theory must explain how individuals behave-how our collective choices shape the economy. From Keynesian economics, he adopts the principle that markets do not always work well, that capitalism needs some guidance. The goal, he writes, is to correct the excesses of a free-market economy without stifling entrepreneurship and instituting central planning. Recent events have shown that we cannot afford to treat economics as an ivory-tower abstraction. It has a direct impact on our lives by guiding regulators and policymakers as they make decisions with far-reaching practical consequences. Written in clear, accessible language, How the Economy Works makes an argument that no one should ignore.

Reflexivity and Economics

Reflexivity and Economics
Author: John Davis
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2018-04-19
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1315471590

The form of ‘reflexivity’ – defined by the dictionary as that which is ‘directed back upon itself’ – that is most relevant to economic methodology is that where observation of the economy leads to ideas that change behavior, which in turn changes (is directed back upon) the economy itself. As George Soros explains: "if investors believe that markets are efficient then that belief will change the way they invest, and that in turn will change the nature of the markets they are observing ... That is the principle of reflexivity". Although various versions of reflexivity have long been discussed, in recent years George Soros has been particularly effective in bringing ideas about reflexivity to the attention of the economic and financial communities. In a series of writings he has systematically argued that reflexivity is not only an important aspect of economic life, it is an aspect that is neglected in most mainstream theorizing; and in addition, that the neglect of reflexivity has been responsible for the failure of economists to predict, explain, or offer a solution for events such as the recent financial crisis. Soros’ ideas about reflexivity have important methodological significance, and his chapter in this book summarizes and clarifies his arguments. His contribution is joined by those of thirteen scholars from a wide range of relevant fields, who provide a commentary on the idea of reflexivity in economics. This book was originally published as a special issue of The Journal of Economic Methodology.

What Money Wants

What Money Wants
Author: Noam Yuran
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014-03-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780804785921

One thing all mainstream economists agree upon is that money has nothing whatsoever to do with desire. This strange blindness of the profession to what is otherwise considered to be a basic feature of economic life serves as the starting point for this provocative new theory of money. Through the works of Karl Marx, Thorstein Veblen, and Max Weber, What Money Wants argues that money is first and foremost an object of desire. In contrast to the common notion that money is but an ordinary object that people believe to be money, this book explores the theoretical consequences of the possibility that an ordinary object fulfills money's function insofar as it is desired as money. Rather than conceiving of the desire for money as pathological, Noam Yuran shows how it permeates economic reality, from finance to its spectacular double in our consumer economy of addictive shopping. Rich in colorful and accessible examples, from the work of Charles Dickens to Reality TV and commercials, this book convinces us that we must return to Marx and Veblen if we are to understand how brand names, broadcast television, and celebrity culture work. Analyzing both classical and contemporary economic theory, it reveals the philosophical dimensions of the controversy between orthodox and heterodox economics.

On the Methodology of Financial Economics

On the Methodology of Financial Economics
Author: Kavous Ardalan
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2023-06-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1035311992

Utilizing a multi-paradigmatic approach in considering the scientific methodology of mainstream financial economics, and suggesting improvements, this book identifies eleven biases of the scientific methodology of mainstream financial economics, namely: intellectual bias, local bias, fad bias, ideological bias, automaticity bias, confirmation bias, cultural bias, stereotyping bias, under-productivity bias, homogeneity bias, and isolation bias.

An Engine, Not a Camera

An Engine, Not a Camera
Author: Donald MacKenzie
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 782
Release: 2008-08-29
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0262250047

In An Engine, Not a Camera, Donald MacKenzie argues that the emergence of modern economic theories of finance affected financial markets in fundamental ways. These new, Nobel Prize-winning theories, based on elegant mathematical models of markets, were not simply external analyses but intrinsic parts of economic processes. Paraphrasing Milton Friedman, MacKenzie says that economic models are an engine of inquiry rather than a camera to reproduce empirical facts. More than that, the emergence of an authoritative theory of financial markets altered those markets fundamentally. For example, in 1970, there was almost no trading in financial derivatives such as "futures." By June of 2004, derivatives contracts totaling $273 trillion were outstanding worldwide. MacKenzie suggests that this growth could never have happened without the development of theories that gave derivatives legitimacy and explained their complexities. MacKenzie examines the role played by finance theory in the two most serious crises to hit the world's financial markets in recent years: the stock market crash of 1987 and the market turmoil that engulfed the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management in 1998. He also looks at finance theory that is somewhat beyond the mainstream—chaos theorist Benoit Mandelbrot's model of "wild" randomness. MacKenzie's pioneering work in the social studies of finance will interest anyone who wants to understand how America's financial markets have grown into their current form.

Economic Theory and Reality

Economic Theory and Reality
Author: Tibor Scitovsky
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 272
Release: 1995
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

This collection of non-technical papers attempts to bridge the gap between economic theory and economic reality. It focuses on two central themes: the necessity of market imperfections and power as conditions for the proper functioning of the market economy, and the impact of second-hand markets on the macroeconomy. This volume improves access to Professor Scitovsky's work, much of which was originally published either in foreign languages or outside the mainstream literature.