Full Product Details
Author: Benjamin Ward
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan
Edition: 1st ed. 2016
Dimensions:
Width: 14.00cm
, Height: 1.80cm
, Length: 21.60cm
Weight: 4.827kg
ISBN: 9781137597359
ISBN 10: 1137597356
Pages: 283
Publication Date: 23 March 2016
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
Ward does a superb job of efficiently summarizing the gist of his argument in three easily digestible sections. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students through professionals. (S. K. Allen, Choice, Vol. 54 (4), December, 2016)
This book proposes to develop 'Dionysian Economics' as an alternative to standard economics, here named 'Apollonian Economics'. A prologue explains the difference between Apollonian Economics and Dionysian Economics through an analogy with the opposition between Apollonian sun and Dionysian sun. Distance, dynamics and energy are involved in this opposition. The author considers standard economics as burdened by pretending its data are more stable than it is the case, distancing itself from the objects studied, and partially substituting ideology to scientific method. A true economic science should completely apply the scientific method, and recognize that economic events are complex, dynamic, in interaction. It is asserted that economic theory has adopted a mathematical language similar to physics, but less successfully than physics (except finance theory). Even if modern economics has positive aspects (econometrics, behavioral economics, quantitative finance), it suffers from important weaknesses. Economic theory, and especially macroeconomics, is too far from reality, trying mainly to find abstract theorems, often untested. Moreover, uncertainty is not well taken into account. The adequate economics, called by the author Dionysian Economics, should integrate dynamics, complexity, diversity and energy. The lack of stable constants invalidate the usefulness of mathematical economics for most economic questions. Economics should focus on empirical research, as does biology. This book criticizes standard economics. Even if the assertions are often grounded, they are not very innovative, since standard economics or mainstream economic theory has been extensively criticized, especially as being too theoretical or mathematical. The arguments often lack precision. There is a too frequent use of vague analogies. For example, the term 'energy' is often used, but its meaning is not clear. The originality of the book is in the opposition between Apollonian Economics and Dionysian Economics, but this one has multiple facets, not very clearly defined. The absolute necessity to adopt a scientific method is stressed, but without explaining exactly what it is (at least in the 55 pages of the proposal). I would have the following suggestions for the author: - Be more precise and rigorous. - An analogy can be useful in an explanation, but it cannot be a proof. - The opposition Apollonian/Dionysian comes from Nietzsche in The Birth of Tragedy. It should be quoted. - Explain how the book can be differentiated to numerous heterodox economics works.
“Ward does a superb job of efficiently summarizing the gist of his argument in three easily digestible sections. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students through professionals.” (S. K. Allen, Choice, Vol. 54 (4), December, 2016)
Author Information
Benjamin Ward taught economics at the University of California-Berkeley, USA, for over thirty years. He authored books and articles comparing welfare state capitalism with socialist and emerging economies. This is his third book on problems with economics itself; the first two dealt with the sociology and methodology of the field and with the central role of ideology in shaping the results of research.
