Information-side patches to neoclassical economics remain epicycles never incorporated into the core model

Evidence

One must acknowledge that there have been various “epicycles” proposed to the neoclassical model to supposedly cover these phenomena, from “search costs” to ‘“asymmetric information” to “lemon models” and beyond; but two observations render them moot. First, they really are epicycles, and have never been incorporated into the core microeconomic model. One reason may be that there is no consensus technique to correctly incorporate “information” into the model of the economic agent (Mirowski, “Why There Is (as Yet) No Such Thing as an Economics of Knowledge”). But second, it has proven almost impossible to maintain a neoclassical model where someone is “bamboozled” into belief in an untruth, and justified in acting upon it. This has something to do with the colonization of neoclassical theory by neoliberal doctrine (Mirowski, ScienceMart, chapter 7). Both considerations bear consequences for orthodox accounts of the crisis. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 1998

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains what ‘epicycles’ means here: ad hoc additive patches to the neoclassical model that never get fused into its core.
• XREF: Connects to Mirowski’s broader argument about the ‘thought collective’ — the claim that neoclassical theory has been colonized by neoliberal doctrine. — connects to: Neoclassical economics as a whole is a zombie tradition resistant to refutation — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 66; Behavioral finance’s noise-trader models left the neoclassical framework untouched. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 728; Akerlof and Shiller’s animal spirits merely relabeled standard neoclassical utility tinkering — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 731 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Neoclassical economics as a whole is a zombie tradition resistant to refutation #corroborates (0.92) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 66