Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Contributors -- Preface -- Part I Introduction -- 1 The dismal queen of the social sciences -- 1 The factuality and fictionality of the "dismal queen" -- 2 Economic models -- 3 Economic ontology -- 4 The institutions of economics -- Notes -- References -- Part II Setting the scene -- 2 Ugly currents in modern economics -- 1 Introduction -- 2 General equilibrium theory -- 3 Game theory -- 4 Macroeconomics, new and old -- 5 What to do? -- 6 Some varieties of postmodernism -- 7 The litmus paper test -- 8 Why is predictability important? -- 9 Formalism again -- Notes -- References -- 3 Modern economics and its critics -- 1 Prologue -- 2 Economics and its history -- 3 The character of modern economics -- 4 The nature of economic life: past and present -- 5 Are we especially apprehensive today? -- 6 Visions of tomorrow -- 7 Societal ills and market failure: are they the same? -- 8 Beyond the market-government dichotomy -- 9 Economics and the ethical life -- 10 Critiques of modern economics -- 11 Why are microfoundations necessary? -- 12 Choice vs. propensities -- 13 Theory and empirics in modern economics -- 14 Quantification and the social sciences -- Notes -- References -- 4 Some nonreasons for nonrealism about economics -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Approaches -- 3 Definitions -- 4 Reasoning -- (1) Economic theory postulates unobservables -- (2) Economic theory simplifies and includes false assumptions -- (3) Economic theory fails to refer to anything real that would fit its description -- (4) Economics is policy-ineffective -- (5) The economy is economics-dependent -- (6) Economic theory is a result of rhetorical persuasion -- (7) Economic entities are mind-dependent -- 5 Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Part III Economic models and economic reality.

5 Credible worlds: the status of theoretical models in economics -- 1 Akerlof and the market for "lemons" -- 2 Schelling's "checkerboard" model of racial sorting -- 3 Conceptual exploration -- 4 Instrumentalism -- 5 Metaphor and caricature -- 6 Economics as an inexact deductive science, and the method of isolation -- 7 Inductive inference -- 8 Justifying induction: separability -- 9 Justifying induction: robustness -- 10 Justifying induction: credible worlds -- 11 Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 6 The limits of causal order, from economics to physics -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Social statistics -- 3 An economics example -- 4 The case of superconductivity -- 5 Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 7 Econometrics and reality -- 1 Econometrics and reality -- 2 Realism -- 3 What's wrong with econometrics -- Tony Lawson: the search for covering laws and the failure of closure -- Nancy Cartwright: the difficulty of constructing closures -- 4 The possibility of econometrics -- The second transcendental argument -- The success of economics -- The role of experiments -- 5 An illustrative case -- Pissarides' machine -- A bit of old-fashioned and primitive econometrics -- 6 To end optimistically -- Notes -- References -- 8 Models, stories, and the economic world -- 1 The story so far -- 2 Why models need stories -- 3 Modeling Keynes' General Theory -- 4 How models connect to the world -- 5 Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 9 Economic models and reality: the role of informal scientific methods -- 1 Models and mechanisms -- 2 Models and stories -- 3 Models and evidence -- 4 Informal economic science -- Note -- References -- 10 Truthlikeness and economic theories -- 1 Unrealistic assumptions in economics -- 2 Verisimilitude and legisimilitude -- 3 Idealization and concretization -- 4 Theoretical reference -- 5 Conclusion -- Notes -- References.

Part IV The constitution of economic reality -- 11 Rational choice, functional selection, and "empty black boxes" -- 1 The problem for functional explanation -- 2 The problem for rational-choice explanation -- 3 The solution with rational-choice explanation -- The model of virtual self-regard -- The explanatory relevance of virtual self-regard -- 4 The solution with functionalist explanation -- The model of virtual selection -- The explanatory relevance of virtual selection -- 5 A general perspective -- First observation -- Second observation -- Third observation -- Fourth observation -- Fifth observation -- Notes -- References -- 12 The reality of common cultures -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Interpretative agents and rational choice -- 3 The puzzling success of the rational-choice model -- 4 The limited success of rational choice -- 5 Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 13 Collective acceptance and collective attitudes: on the social construction of social reality -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The collective acceptance model of collective sociality -- 3 Collective goals and collective goods -- 3.1 -- 3.2 -- 3.3 -- 4 On the reality of the social world -- Notes -- References -- 14 Hayek and cultural evolution -- 1 Introduction -- 2 A summary of Hayek's position on cultural evolution -- 3 Hayek and methodological individualism -- A What evidence exists to demonstrate Hayek's commitment to methodological individualism? -- B What kind of methodological individualism did Hayek support? -- C Does Hayek's methodological individualism preclude him from endorsing evolutionary or group selection arguments? -- 4 Are constitutional political economists also rationalist constructivists? -- 5 The process of cultural evolution -- Notes -- References -- 15 Putting evidence in its place: John Mill's early struggles with "facts in the concrete" -- 1 Overview.

Experience versus assumed behavior -- Two cheers for "facts in the concrete" -- The argument in brief -- 2 Facts in the concrete -- When is an instance analyzable? -- Illustrations: 1 - paper currency and commercial distress -- Illustrations: 2 - price movements -- Illustrations: 3 - whether oaths are effective -- Illustrations: 4 - Carlyle's French Revolution -- 3 The limited uses of history -- The best history is analysis of the present -- Good history, but without a method of induction -- Complexity, and lack of experiment -- The importance of being certain -- 4 Passage to the essay on method -- Sidestepping the problem of induction -- 5 Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Part V The institutions of economics -- 16 You shouldn't want a realism if you have a rhetoric -- References -- 17 The more things change, the more they stay the same: social realism in contemporary science studies -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Social realism and epistemological chicken: the opening volley -- 3 Social realism and epistemological chicken: other responses -- 4 Economics and contemporary science studies -- 5 Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 18 Economists: truth-seekers or rent-seekers? -- 1 The conservative revolution meets reflexivity -- 2 Scientific method: a constitutional approach -- 3 Two examples -- 4 Collective decisions and the dynamics of scientific knowledge -- 5 Is economic knowledge efficiently produced? -- Notes -- References -- Index.