Back to Search
Start Over
Specialization, fragmentation, and pluralism in economics
- Source :
- The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought. 26:271-293
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Informa UK Limited, 2019.
-
Abstract
- This paper investigates whether specialisation in research is causing economics to become an increasingly fragmented and diverse discipline with a continually rising number of niche-based research programmes and a declining role for dominant cross-science research programmes. It opens by framing the issue in terms of centrifugal and centripetal forces operating on research in economics, and then distinguishes descriptive from normative pluralism. It reviews recent research regarding the JEL code and economics’ J. B. Clark Award that points towards rising specialisation and fragmentation of research in economics. It then reviews five related arguments that might explain increasing specialisation and fragmentation in economics: (i) Smith’s early division of labour view, (ii) Kuhn’s later thinking about the importance of specialisation, (iii) Heiner’s behavioral burden of knowledge argument, (iv) Ross’s innovation-diffusion analysis and Arthur’s theory of technological change as determinants of speci...
- Subjects :
- Pluralism in economics
060106 history of social sciences
Technological change
General Arts and Humanities
Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous)
Innovation diffusion
06 humanities and the arts
Internationalization
Framing (social sciences)
History and Philosophy of Science
Knowledge argument
Economics
Normative
0601 history and archaeology
Positive economics
Division of labour
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14695936 and 09672567
- Volume :
- 26
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........e9906eedda90d380f7cbad7803fff5d6