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Metaphors in the History of Economic Thought: Crises, Business Cycles and Equilibrium explores the evolution of economic theorizing through the lens of metaphors. The edited volume sheds light on metaphors which have been used by a range of key thinkers and schools of thought to describe economic crises, business cycles and economic equilibrium.
Structured in three parts, the book examines an array of metaphors ranging from mechanics, waves, storms, medicine and beyond. The international panel of contributors focuses primarily on economic literature up to the Second World War, knowing again that the use of metaphors in economic work has seen a resurgence since the 1980s.
This work will be of interest to advanced students and researchers in the history of economic thought, and economics and language.
List of contents
Introduction, Pt. I: Crises, 1. Economic crises in nineteenth century Italy: a cultural analysis, 2. Clément Juglar's epistemic use of metaphors, 3. Riders on the Storm: W. Stanley Jevons, Meteorology and the Analysis of 'Commercial Fluctuations', Pt. II: Business cycles, 4. Stitching Things Together. Marshall on the economy as an "organic whole", 5. Differentiation, integration, and the great variety of organisms: biological origins of Werner Sombart's business cycle theory, 6. Biological, Medical and Physical Metaphors in Germán Bernácer's Theory of Business Cycles (1916-1936), 7. The nature of monetary disturbances in Austrian and Swedish business cycle theories, 8. How economics failed to understand crises. Constitutive metaphors in business cycle analysis, from Frisch to Real Business Cycles, Pt. III: Equilibrium, 9. The pendulum and equilibrium: A survey, 10. Statistical equilibrium in early 20th century Italian economics
About the author
Roberto Baranzini is a professor in economics and in the history and philosophy of economics at the Centre Walras-Pareto, University of Lausanne, Switzerland. His research covers the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, focusing on the work of Léon Walras and on the Ecole de Lausanne until the 1960s.
Daniele Besomi is senior research fellow at the Centre Walras-Pareto, University of Lausanne, Switzerland. His research centres on the history of business cycles and crises theories, and his writings include some on the key metaphors used frequently by writers on the subjects.
Summary
This book explores the evolution of economic theorizing through the lens of metaphors. The edited volume sheds light on metaphors which have been used by a range of key thinkers and schools of thought to describe economic crises, business cycles and economic equilibrium.
Report
"Metaphors in economics are a very rich source of theoretical and historiographical suggestions. The book shows how plausible this consideration is and how much this perspective can lead to a rethinking of economic theory as a whole."
- Stefano Fiori, European Journal of the History of Economic Thought
