IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jecmet/v3y1996i2p237-259.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The rhetoric of policy relevance in international economics

Author

Listed:
  • William Milberg

Abstract

This paper addresses the link between the generation of economic knowledge and economic policy conclusions. Focusing on the case of research in international trade, It establishes a taxonomy of rhetorical practices used to make such a link. The flexibility observed in these practices contrasts markedly with the rigidity of the conventions of theoretical and empirical knowledge creation. A survey of articles on international trade from four major journals from 1988 to 1992 shows that most policy-relevant research is entirely theoretical, but the incidence of rhetorical practices legitimating policy conclusions depends on the nature of the research method (theoretical or empirical), and the journal in which the research is published. The survey data support the conclusion that the flexibility of rhetorical practices is integral to the legitimation of the knowledge generated by international trade economists.

Suggested Citation

  • William Milberg, 1996. "The rhetoric of policy relevance in international economics," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(2), pages 237-259.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jecmet:v:3:y:1996:i:2:p:237-259
    DOI: 10.1080/13501789600000017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13501789600000017
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/13501789600000017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul Krugman, 1986. "Strategic Trade Policy and the New International Economics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262610450, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bianchi, Ana Maria, 2002. "For Different Audiences, Different Arguments: Economic Rhetoric at the Beginning of the Latin American School," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(3), pages 291-305, September.
    2. Ana Maria Bianchi & Cleofas Salviano, 1999. "Raúl Prebisch and the beginnings of the Latin American school of economics: a rhetorical perspective," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(3), pages 423-438.
    3. William Milberg, 2007. "WP 2006-2 The New Social Science Imperialism and the Problem of Knowledge in Contemporary Economics," SCEPA working paper series. 2006-2, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jean-Marc Siroën, 2016. "L'OMC face à la crise des négociations multilatérales," Working Papers hal-01399859, HAL.
    2. Csordas, Stefan, 2009. "The global welfare effects of international environmental cooperation," MPRA Paper 20787, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Steven W. Popper & Caroline S. Wagner, 2003. "Identifying critical technologies in the United States: a review of the federal effort," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(2-3), pages 113-128.
    4. Margaret A. Walls, 1990. "Welfare Cost Of An Oil Import Fee," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 8(2), pages 176-189, April.
    5. William Maloney & Andrés Rodríguez‐Clare, 2007. "Innovation Shortfalls," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(4), pages 665-684, November.
    6. Tsung-Chen Lee & Hsiao-Chi Chen & Shi-Miin Liu, 2013. "Optimal strategic regulations in international emissions trading under imperfect competition," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 15(1), pages 39-57, January.
    7. Paqué, Karl-Heinz & Stehn, Jürgen & Horn, Ernst-Jürgen & Scharrer, Hans-Eckart & Koopmann, Georg, 1996. "National technology policies and international friction: Theory, evidence, and policy options," Kiel Discussion Papers 279, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    8. Christos N. Pitelis, 2011. "Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Integration," Chapters, in: Miroslav N. Jovanović (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Integration, Volume III, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Kong-Rae Lee & Joong-Hae Suh, 1998. "Technology Gap Approach To A Dynamic Change In World Machine Tool Markets: A Panel Data Analysis," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(3), pages 203-220.
    10. Anne Haugen Gausdal, 2008. "Developing regional communities of practice by network reflection: the case of the Norwegian electronics industry," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 209-235, May.
    11. Wen Li Cheng & Meng-Chun Liu & Xiaokai Yang, 2005. "A Ricardian Model With Endogenous Comparative Advantage And Endogenous Trade Policy Regimes," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: An Inframarginal Approach To Trade Theory, chapter 7, pages 109-130, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    12. Rajah Rasiah, 2011. "Book Review: The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 by Paul Krugman, New York: Norton, 2009, 191 pp," Institutions and Economies (formerly known as International Journal of Institutions and Economies), Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, vol. 3(2), pages 387-395, July.
    13. Sebastian Krapohl & Václav Ocelík & Dawid M. Walentek, 2021. "The instability of globalization: applying evolutionary game theory to global trade cooperation," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 188(1), pages 31-51, July.
    14. Rivas, Gonzalo, 1994. "Las exportaciones y el proceso de crecimiento," Series Históricas 9609, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    15. Bagwell, Kyle & Staiger, Robert W., 1994. "The sensitivity of strategic and corrective R&D policy in oligopolistic industries," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1-2), pages 133-150, February.
    16. Fanti, Luciano & Buccella, Domenico, 2016. "Passive unilateral cross-ownership and strategic trade policy," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 10, pages 1-22.
    17. Paul Welfens, 1989. "The globalization of markets and regional integration," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 24(6), pages 273-281, November.
    18. Cristiana Ioana Șerbănel, 2020. "When Competitiveness in the Agriculture Sector Becomes Mandatory. Romania Case Study," Ovidius University Annals, Economic Sciences Series, Ovidius University of Constantza, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 0(2), pages 536-542, December.
    19. Tatsuo Hatta, 2017. "Competition policy vs. industrial policy as a growth strategy," China Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 162-174, May.
    20. Mohammed Shuaibu, 2017. "The Effect of Trade Liberalisation on Poverty in Nigeria: A Micro–Macro Framework," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 68-93, January.

    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:taf:jecmet:v:3:y:1996:i:2:p:237-259. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RJEC20 .

    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.