Economic expectations are products of imagination rather than reason.

Evidence

Economist George Shackle singled out this neglect of the imagination as a major drawback in modern theories of political economy. Shackle argued that imagination offers a way out of “rational choice” dilemmas when faced with uncertain futures: “economic expectations are not primarily the product of reason but of imagination”—a “reasoned imagination” as he called it—and hence “our decisions must be based on how we imagine the future” (Bronk 2009, 72; also see Beckert 2016). His point is especially salient because it demonstrates the need to shift our attention away from deconstructing homo economicus and turn it instead to conceptualizing homo speculans. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 137

Categorization

• DEFINE: Shackle’s ‘reasoned imagination’ is the key conceptual framework distinguishing speculative from rational economic decision-making.
• XREF: connects to: The imaginary act refracts rather than mirrors the real action it expresses. — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 458; Finance’s dominance rests on speculative imagination, not just market rationality. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 550; Marx and Weber framed speculation’s contradictions but ignored imagination’s role in capitalism — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 228 (+1 more)