Essays on the Nature and State of Modern Economics

The financial crisis has highlighted just how limited and impoverished is modern academic economics. Despite the failings of the latter being more widely acknowledged now than ever, there is still an enormous amount of confusion about their source and true nature. In this collection of previously published and new papers, Tony Lawson offers a forceful and persuasive comprehensive account of the state of contemporary economics that both identifies the cause of the discipline's failings and outlines a transformative solution to its deficiencies. Amongst other things, Lawson advocates for the adoption of a more historical and philosophical orientation to the study of economics, one that deemphasizes the current focus on mathematical modelling while maintaining a high level of analytical rigour. In so doing Lawson argues for a return to long term systematic and sustained projects, in the manner pursued by the likes of Marx, Veblen, Hayek and Keynes, concerned first and foremost with advancing our understanding of our social reality. Overall, this collection represents an important intervention in the on-going debates about the state and future direction of economics.