IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nov/artigo/v26y2016i1p123-146.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A tese de performatividade e o ambiente das ideias: o papel dos modelos formais em economia [The performativity thesis and the environment of ideas: the role of formal models in economics]

Author

Listed:
  • Celso Neris Jr.

    (UNICAMP)

  • José Ricardo Fucidji

    (UNESP)

Abstract

This paper examines the 'performativity of economics' thesis and uses it as an argument for the influence economic models may have on the economy. Although the performativity thesis has been the target of important critiques - even being called 'vogue' or 'trendy' theory sometimes - its weaker version simply claims that theoretical entities can have effects on economic agents' practices. If this weaker version is admitted, it is worthwhile to discuss the reasons why economists adopt formal models, even though they are obviously unrealistic. We find one of these reasons in the institutions of economics and its processes of epistemic legitimization. By assuming that such a choice may lock economists in a 'bad equilibrium' regarding their aim of understanding and acting in the economy, this paper argues for greater ontological awareness about model building and use.

Suggested Citation

  • Celso Neris Jr. & José Ricardo Fucidji, 2016. "A tese de performatividade e o ambiente das ideias: o papel dos modelos formais em economia [The performativity thesis and the environment of ideas: the role of formal models in economics]," Nova Economia, Economics Department, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil), vol. 26(1), pages 123-146, January-A.
    • Handle: RePEc:nov:artigo:v:26:y:2016:i:1:p:123-146
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.scielo.br/pdf/neco/v26n1/1980-5381-neco-26-01-00123.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-63512016000100123&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=pt
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    performativity thesis; ontology; formal models;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology
    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
    • A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nov:artigo:v:26:y:2016:i:1:p:123-146. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Lucas Resende de Carvalho (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fufmgbr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.