Michel De Vroey

(IRES/LIDAM, UCLouvain)

will give a presentation on 

What has changed in Economics over the last half-century?

Abstract

Our paper aims to capture the critical elements of the evolution of economics over the last half-century. To achieve such an ambitious task, we proceed in two ways. First, we engage in a history-of-economics analysis. We distinguish the following phases. At the turn of the 1970s, economics displayed several innovations and witnessed a methodological mix. During the 1970-1990, it underwent a microfoundational turn whereby several important fields of economics adopted the good practice standards prevailing in microeconomics. In the 1990s, it experienced an empirical turn associated with the rise of laboratory experiments, randomized control trials, and natural experiments with behavioral economics as the theoretical offspring of the first of these. The second route we take is to construct three interlinked taxonomies: the ‘mainstream/nonmainstream’ taxonomy, the ‘theory/measurement, and the ‘explanandum of economics’ taxonomy, each aiming to capture a particular facet of the evolution of economics. These two research paths nurtured each other during the long-lasting gestation of our paper. It eventually dawned on us that their combination does a surprisingly good job of grasping what occurred in our field over the last half-century. The final section of the paper consists in an empirical verification of our claims.

(with Luca Pensieroso).