Sanjay Reddy, an Institute for New Economic Thinking grantee, argues that economics must return to its origins as a science of moral reasoning. Professor Reddy contends that the public’s recent loss of faith in the economics profession, owing to their inability to help us avoid the great economic crisis, indicates the incredible need for economists to join the public in engaging in rigorous debates about what society’s guiding values should be. More importantly, Professor Reddy argues that technical economic research can only be coherent and succeed if it is grounded in a robust and well-articulated evaluative framework. In the absence of critical reflection on the underlying values informing economic inquiries, technical debates are bound to run aground and thus such reflection is essential to producing good research. Reddy first came to this position not as a philosopher of social science, but as an applied researcher working on the economics of poverty. The genius of Professor Reddy’s argument is that he is not merely recommending that economists conduct their investigations on the basis of an evaluative framework, but that economists have all along and always will be thinking on the basis of value judgments and presuppositions. Hence, Reddy is explaining to economists how to better do what they’ve been doing all along, rather than imploring them to do something that is foreign to their science.
Reddy’s claim that in their theorizing and empirical research economists proceed on the basis of (implicit) value judgments and presuppositions suggests the need to investigate actual technical works and debates in economics with the goal of identifying and critically assessing their underlying values. Reddy’s thesis has inclined me to take a second look at Rothbard’s “Praxeology, Value Judgments, and Public Policy”, which I have not read in over three years, but that I use to take very seriously. It is also worth thinking about Reddy’s thesis in light of Mises’s essay, “Science and Value”, and Weber’s essay,”The Meaning of Ethical Neutrality in Sociology and Economics”.
Professor Reddy has issued a serious challenge to the dominant view that economics is a positive, analytical science that must remain neutral with regards to normative issues. If he is right, we may need to inaugurate a significant revision of our discipline’s self-understanding, underlying assumptions and methodological commitments.
Professor Reddy further breaks with the economic imperialists by claiming that economics is one of many social sciences and that it ought to learn from its family disciplines, which is a point often made here at TSR!
Although, its too early to determine whether his central thesis is justified, Professor Reddy and his current research agenda deserves serious attention. This video should be of interest to all those participating in the project of progressively developing social science research. (It should go without saying at this point but TSR loves what INET is doing for the dismal discipline. see this post where I discuss the work of two other INET grantees.)
Is there any reason why he believes we can’t make positive statements about the world without having an evaluative framework of the stripe he describes? This seems to be what his argument hinges on and I was a little disappointed to see it glossed over so easily in the interview.
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