Uncertainty in Economics

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Julia Köhn

   Pages 1-13

3. Uncertainty in Economic Thought

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-16

      PDF

   2. Uncertainty in the History of Economic Thought

      • Julia Köhn

      Pages 17-37

   3. Truth, Probability and Uncertainty

      • Julia Köhn

      Pages 39-47

   4. The Principles of Economics

      • Julia Köhn

      Pages 49-62

   5. Probability and Neoclassical Uncertainty

      • Julia Köhn

      Pages 63-94

4. Philosophies of Uncertainty

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 95-96

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   2. The Origin of Profit

      • Julia Köhn

      Pages 97-107

   3. Uncertainty and Economic Instability

      • Julia Köhn

      Pages 109-123

   4. The Division of Knowledge and Unknowledge

      • Julia Köhn

      Pages 125-137

   5. The Nature of Economics

      • Julia Köhn

      Pages 139-154

5. Methodology of Uncertainty

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 155-156

      PDF

   2. Extending the Boundaries of Economics

      • Julia Köhn

      Pages 157-176

   3. Uncertainty and Fiction

      • Julia Köhn

      Pages 177-192

   4. Human After All

      • Julia Köhn

      Pages 193-199

In this book the author develops a new approach to uncertainty in economics, which calls for a fundamental change in the methodology of economics. It provides a comprehensive overview and critical appraisal of the economic theory of uncertainty and shows that uncertainty was originally conceptualized both as an epistemic and an ontological problem. As a result of the economic professions’ attempt to become acknowledged as a science, the more problematic aspect of ontological uncertainty has been neglected and the subjective probability approach to uncertainty became dominant in economic theory. A careful analysis of ontological theories of uncertainty explains the blindness of modern economics to economic phenomena such as instability, slumps or excessive booms. Based on these findings the author develops a new approach that legitimizes a New Uncertainty Paradigm in economics.

• Uncertainty
• Predictability
• Probability
• Complexity
• Performativity

• Berlin, Germany

  Julia Köhn

Julia Köhn studied Business, Economics & Philosophy at Witten/Herdecke University and at the Erasmus Institute for Economics and Philosophy at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. She is scholar of the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation and member of the Think Thank “New Social Market Economy” as well as the Young Scholars Initiative of the Institute for New Economic Thinking in New York.

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