The Economic View of the World. From "Imperialism" to "Social Science Integration"

Abstract

This seminar aims at discussing the the inter-actions between economics and other social sciences

Objective

This seminar aims at discussing the the inter-actions between economics and other social sciences

Content

Economics as a social science is based on two elements: First, a specific model of human behavior (egoism and rational behavior, i.e. “homo oeconomicus”); second, an analysis of institution determining the social constraints on human behavior. The economic approach has been applied successfully to many different fields such as education, natural environment, family, peace and war, crime, terrorism, sports, arts and religion. The approach has had a great influence on other social sciences. In political science, the rational choice approach is called “Public Choice”, in sociology “Rational Choice Sociology”, in law “Law and Economics”, and in history “Cliomet-rics”. This constitutes an export of economic thinking, which has sometimes been called “imperialism”. Over the last few years, increasingly insights and methods from other social sciences, in particular from social psychology and sociology, have been introduced into economics. A new discipline has arisen, often called “Economics and Psychology” (sometimes also misleadingly called “Behavioral Economics”). In the centre of the analysis are anomalies, i.e. systematic deviations from the traditional homo oeconomicus, and the measurement of utility in the context of Happiness Economics.

Resources