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The Puzzle of Modern Economics: Science or Ideology? [Paperback]

Roger E. Backhouse (Author)
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Book Description

Publication Date: June 21, 2010
Does economics hold the key to everything or does the recent financial crisis show that it has failed? This book provides an assessment of modern economics that cuts through the confusion and controversy on this question. Case studies of the creation of new markets, the Russian transition to capitalism, globalization, and money and finance establish that economics has been very successful where problems have been well defined and where the world can be changed to fit the theory, but that it has been less successful in tackling bigger problems. The book then offers a historical perspective on how economists have, since the Second World War, tried to make their subject scientific. It explores the evolving relationship between science and ideology and investigates the place of heterodoxy and dissent within the discipline. It is argued that, though there are problems with the discipline, economics is needed to combat the myths that abound concerning economic problems.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This perceptive guide to the state of conventional economics in the aftermath of the financial crisis shows the subject is neither as flawed as its critics claim nor as powerful as its defenders say. Importantly, Roger Backhouse helps us understand when we can rely on the standard tools of economics. In clearly defined situations, economic models - applied with good judgment - do help tackle real-world problems, but economic techniques are less useful in addressing more complex problems. This is a wise book, one both economists and their critics would do well to read." - Diane Coyle, Author of The Soulful Science: What Economists Really Do and Why It Matters

"This beautifully written and extraordinarily insightful book will fascinate anyone interested in macroeconomics, regardless of theoretical or political orientation. Roger Backhouse is one of the few economists in the world with the breadth and depth of knowledge, acuteness of judgment, and intellectual integrity to undertake a systematic and unprejudiced evaluation of the strengths and limitations of modern economics in providing understanding of phenomena ranging from globalization to the recent financial crisis. Academic economists of various stripes will frequently disagree with aspects of Backhouse's analysis but will never fail to be stimulated and sometimes challenged. Lay readers will find the book a rewarding entry into many of the key macroeconomic debates. Simply put, The Puzzle of Modern Economics is an intellectual delight." - Steven N. Durlauf, University of Wisconsin

"It is refreshing to find someone who sees the status of modern economics as a puzzle rather than as either a capitalist plot or the triumph of pure reason. Backhouse tries to focus on the intrinsic difficulty of making and applying theories when their object is something as complicated and variable as a modern economy. That is where the action is and where the thought should be." - Robert Solow, Nobel Laureate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"This is a tour de force. It presents for the general reader as much as for the specialist a judicious account of why the tribes of economists often reach different conclusions about the same events and offer different prescriptions for the same problems. And it explains why the tribes with a substantially unjustified faith in free markets have long been in the ascendancy, which may now be coming to an end." - Robert Wade, London School of Economics, Recipient of the Leontief Prize in Economics, 2008

"Does present-day economics make sense? In a half-dozen well-chosen case studies, Roger Backhouse takes the reader on a tour d'horizon of developments since World War II in order to ask: Is it a.) dangerous mathematical formalism, b.) free market ideology, or c.) a vital guide to practical action? The correct answer, he concludes, is d.) all of the above." - David Warsh, Economic Principals

"The more I read Backhouse's book, the more I understood that it's important to distinguish economics from economics as it is typically practiced. Backhouse shows how the current mathematics-heavy top-down approach to economics is not the only one. He traces the origin of the approach--which necessarily assumes that people are rational agents trying to optimize their resources--to the 1930s, but points out that it took some 30 years to really catch on." - Barbara Kiviat, The Curious Capitalist, Time.com

"Throughout, Backhouse implements the patient, well-balanced hand of someone familiar with handling intellectual puzzles.... An excellent resource for anyone deciding whether to trust economic knowledge.... Highly recommended." - Choice

Book Description

Does economics hold the key to everything or does the recent financial crisis show that it has failed? The answer is somewhere in between - economics can do some things well but does others badly. Economists have tried to make their discipline scientific, but ideology has not been eliminated. Economics has problems, but it is needed to debunk myths.
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 214 pages
  • Publisher: Cambridge University Press (June 21, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0521532612
  • ISBN-13: 978-0521532617
  • Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #747,176 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Thoughtful April 9, 2012
Format:Paperback
This short book is essentially a long essay on the nature of modern economic theory. The author is a well known historian of economics. The subtitle "Science or Ideology?" contains a partial answer to the question it poses. Would anyone write a book with this subtitle about any of the natural sciences? The background of this book is the considerable disehchantment, expressed not only by laymen but also by a number of prominent economists, with the state of economic theory. Charges that modern economic theory is too consumed with mathematical elegance or dominated by ideology are relatively common.

Backhouse opens with a concise set of case studies that exemplify some of the stronger and weaker aspects of economic theory. Backhouse's conclusion is essentially that when applied carefully in narrowly defined settings, it can be quite powerful. In quite a few other situations, many of them very important policy matters, it can be misleading. So how does the pursuit of mathematical elegance and the potential role of ideology lead to failures of economic theory? Backhouse points to 2 important and interacting factors. Post-war economics was dominated by efforts to develop a more scientific economics. With opportunities for experiments limited and with the idea that physics and math were the appropriate models for economics, this meant a strong emphasis on rigorous formal models. But in order to be rigorous, considerable simplification was necessary, reducing the relevance of formal models. In the hands of its best practioners, brilliant individuals like Paul Samuelson and Kenneth Arrow who recognized the limitations of theory, it was possible to produce rigorous theory that could be used as point of departure for more realistic work. As Backhouse points out, this kind of activity carries with it substantial risk of reification (though he does not use that term).

The emphasis on this version of scientific thinking made economics particularly susceptible to the second of Backhouse's major factors; the influence of convervative ideology associated with Milton Friedman and other libertarians. Backhouse makes the very good point that a strong emphasis on modeling, as opposed to experiments or other forms of empirical verification, makes theory unusually susceptible to ideological influences. Backhouse points to the prominent theorist Robert Lucas as the bridge between sophisticated modeling & theory and conservative ideology. While many economists were skeptical of these trends, this strongly ideologically influenced version of economic theory was very congenial to political movements in the USA and Britain, accounting for much of its success in the policy arena. Based on his account, however, I'd have to say that Backhouse is probably too gentle with respect to these right wing economists. It wouldn't be too strong to say that didn't behave like real scientists.

Backhouse is guardedly optimistic about the future of economic theory. He points to the considerable diversification of economics, emergence of new methodologies, and openness to influences from other fields. As he points out, some of the strongest criticism of the formulation and use of formal models has come from mainstream economists like Joseph Stiglitz who are very good at traditional formal work and recognize its value and limitations.
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2 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Todd
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was so excited when I found out about this book. It would explain much about the partisan hysteria we hear in the news media related to the economy and economics. Unfortunately it is written in a very academic style that makes it extremely hard to get through. It is hard to follow his arguments as the contents are so boring and drawn out that I couldn't absorb it. It would have been a great service to the public if the author had started or ended with an easy to read description of the jest of the book so the average person could appreciate what he is getting at.
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3 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"The Puzzle of Modern Economics" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. The book interview of Professor Backhouse ran here as the cover feature on October 27, 2010.
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