Chapter 15 The Economic Queen has Soured: It's Time for Change

Abstract

For long now the economics profession has boasted of Economics as the Queen of the Social Sciences. That was the era when Economics matured under the shade of a classical notion of the physical universe, whose properties it imported into rational choice. Economics emulated the mathematical methods of optimization and equilibrium behavior and overarched these methods between microeconomics and macroeconomics in the areas of economic growth, public choice theory, rational expectations, constitutional economics, and many others. Each of these branches of economics remained entrenched in rational choice behavior exported from the microlevel to institutional and collective norms. In this way, a unique and universal premise of self-interest, individualism and independence, and completeness of rational choice assumptions was extended to the institutional level. Thus, the rational choice behavior of individualism became the principle of methodological individualism of liberal institutionalism.

Citation

Alam Choudhury, M. (2011), "Chapter 15 The Economic Queen has Soured: It's Time for Change", Baltagi, B.H., Sadka, E. and Alam Choudhury, M. (Ed.) Contributions to Economic Analysis (Contributions to Economic Analysis, Vol. 291), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 311-325. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0573-8555(2011)0000291025