Economics actively shapes the economy rather than merely describing it

Evidence

Academic economics often appears extraordinarily abstract and almost indifferent to the practical world of everyday economic calculation. My argument that the work of economics contributes to the making of the economy might appear to attribute excessive influence to such a discipline. The question of what economics does, however, can only be addressed by following it at work. Taking a particular experiment and tracing the narrow but well-signposted paths that connect it to other projects offers the way to a more expansive understanding of the work of economics in general and of the work of neoliberal economics in particular. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1987

Categorization

• XREF: Mirrors the performativity-of-economics thesis (Callon/Mackenzie) central to this book’s framing; connects to what the collection overall argues about how neoliberal economics constructs its own reality. — connects to: Economic theory is commonly assumed to map perfectly onto a constant reality — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 119; Economic theories are endogenous and actively shape the world they describe. — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 122; Market conversations do not merely transmit information but perform the economic action itself — Karin Knorr Cetina & Urs Bruegger, Global Microstructures: The Virtual…, 29 (+14 more)

Broader Connections

• Economic concepts actively constitute the economic behavior they describe #corroborates (0.92) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 105
• The economy is a constructed concept rather than a natural object. #expands (0.80) — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, 538
• The economy’s weight relative to society varies historically rather than ontologically #qualifies (0.75) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1176