Seminário 
2nd CES International Seminar on the Foundations of Economics
Facts, Values and Objectivity

19-20 March 2010, CES Seminar Room, 2nd Floor, Coimbra

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Presentation

Anatole Kaletsky, the Principal Economic Commentator of Times, asked recently (February 5, 2009) in respect to mainstream rational expectations economics: “Why did these implausible theories defeat more realistic ones?” His answer could not be straighter: “Partly it was the ideological mood of the 1980s and partly the ease with which rational expectations theories could be turned into mathematical models”.

That rational expectations economics backed by elegant and sober mathematical models is being presently accused of being ideologically conditioned is indeed ironical. In fact, mainstream economists were the first to insist on the need to purge political economy of all vestiges of values, erecting a Pure (positive) Economic Science dismissing other traditions in economic thought as non-scientific.

The unveiling of the ideological underpinnings of “positive” economics further confirms the collapse of fact/theory and fact/value dichotomies. Knowledge on the economy, as all knowledge, is of necessity value-laden. This is presently understood by most and we do not have to challenge any more “positivist” claims to the contrary.

With the collapse fact/theory and fact/value dichotomies the traditional clear‐cut divide between normative and positive economics became blurred. Simultaneously the normative burden of the discipline has been increasing as the accumulation of wealth – the good with which economists were supposed to be concerned – is more and more perceived as conflicting with other goods. Economics is being forced to abandon the instrumental domain of the search of the best means to achieve goals politically defined, to engage in public deliberations involving both the means and ends of collective action. Present discussions on the limits and alternatives to GDP as an indicator of wellbeing are symptomatic of such a shift.

By proposing a reflection on “Facts, Values and Objectivity” we do not intend to revisit past controversies on the same terms. Our concern is with questions insufficiently addressed that are presently becoming urgent, such as:

1. At a time when the normative burden of economics is increasing we still lack a clear understanding of how to engage as economists in deliberations that necessarily involve ends and values.

• Should we take values as subjective preferences or tastes (as in conventional economics) or rather as appropriate objects of rational inquiry and debate?
• Should economics aim at shedding a particular light on those debates? Is Political Economy to become again a moral science?

• In debates concerning ends to be collectively pursued should we, as economists, still aspire at an objective point of view?
• After the demise of the fact/value and positive/normative dichotomies, is there a meaning for ‘objectivity’?

• What kind of expertise should economists provide?
• Should there be a deontology of the economist profession?

Registration

Normal - 35 euros
Post-graduate students - 25 euros
CES researchers - 25 euros

Registration fee includes lunch on the 19th and coffee-breaks.

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