The booming economics-made-fun genre

More than having fun, but less than economics imperialism

Authors

  • Jack J. Vromen EIPE, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.23941/ejpe.v2i1.25

Keywords:

economics-made-fun, pop economics, freakonomics, economics imperialism, sociology of economics

Abstract

Over the last few years there seems to have been a sharp increase in the number of books that want to spread the news that economics is, or at least can be, fun. This paper sets out to explain in what senses economics is supposed to be fun. In particular, the books in what I will call the economics-made-fun genre will be compared first with papers and books written by economists with the explicit intent of making fun of economics. Subsequently, it will be examined whether or not it makes sense to accuse books in the economics-made-fun genre of economics imperialism, as some commentators have recently done.

Author Biography

Jack J. Vromen, EIPE, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Jack J. Vromen is professor of theoretical philosophy, dean of international affairs, and academic director of the Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics (EIPE), at Erasmus University Rotterdam. His research interests are in the philosophy of economics, with an emphasis on conceptual and meta-theoretical aspects of the relation between evolutionary and economic theorizing.

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Published

2009-09-13

How to Cite

Vromen, J. J. (2009). The booming economics-made-fun genre: More than having fun, but less than economics imperialism. Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics, 2(1), 70–99. https://doi.org/10.23941/ejpe.v2i1.25

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2009): Summer 2009

Section

Articles