1. Institutions and ‘Science’: The Contest about Pluralism in Economics in France
- Author
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Agnès Labrousse, Bernard Chavance, Laboratoire Dynamiques Sociales et Recomposition des Espaces (LADYSS), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis (UP8)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre de Recherche sur les Institutions, l'Industrie et les Systèmes Économiques d'Amiens - UR UPJV 3908 (CRIISEA), Université de Picardie Jules Verne (UPJV), Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis (UP8)-Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre de Recherche sur les Institutions, l'Industrie et les Systèmes Économiques d'Amiens (CRIISEA), and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis (UP8)-Université Paris Nanterre (UPN)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)
- Subjects
Research evaluation ,Pluralism in economics ,Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous) ,Mainstream economics ,CONTEST ,[SHS]Humanities and Social Sciences ,research evaluation ,0502 economics and business ,050602 political science & public administration ,Economics ,Mainstream ,heterodox economics ,050207 economics ,Heterodox economics ,ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS ,JEL: A - General Economics and Teaching/A.A1 - General Economics/A.A1.A14 - Sociology of Economics ,05 social sciences ,JEL: I - Health, Education, and Welfare/I.I2 - Education and Research Institutions/I.I2.I23 - Higher Education • Research Institutions ,[SHS.ECO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Economics and Finance ,0506 political science ,JEL: B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches/B.B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches/B.B5.B50 - General ,Pluralism (political theory) ,Political economy ,Political Science and International Relations ,JEL: A - General Economics and Teaching/A.A2 - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics/A.A2.A23 - Graduate ,pluralism ,France ,JEL: A - General Economics and Teaching - Abstract
For a long time, France was a country in which various approaches to economics coexisted. This pluralism began to dwindle in the mid-1990s. Since then, France has witnessed the increasing and now overwhelming domination of mainstream economics. This article, drawing on a study of the evolution of the recruitment of professors of economics in France, documents the situation and links the observed trends to the changing institutions governing the discipline (a centralized system evolving under the influence of international norms and instruments). It is demonstrated that far from being fair and neutral devices, the rules and instruments governing economics—notably the ranking lists of economic journals—incorporate specific worldviews strongly biasing the assessment of research toward the mainstream. This article documents the tentative use of ‘voice and exit’ by the French Association of Political Economy to reform the economics discipline. Furthermore, it discusses the arguments proclaimed by Jean ...
- Published
- 2018