Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics

Review of Claudia Goldin's Career and Family: Women’s Century-Long Journey toward Equity. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2021, xii + 344 pp.

Sarah F. Small — 2022-11-03

Review of Ralph Hertwig, Timothy J. Pleskac, and Thorsten Pachur’s Taming Uncertainty. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2019, xvii + 469 pp.

James Grayot — 2022-12-05

Review of José Luis Bermúdez's Frame It Again: New Tools for Rational Decision-Making. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020, x + 340 pp.

Bele Wollesen — 2022-12-06

Review of Richard Pettigrew’s Dutch Book Arguments. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020, 96 pp.

Luc Lichtsteiner — 2022-12-12

Review of Juliana Bidadanure’s Justice Across Ages: Treating Young and Old as Equals. Oxford and New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2021, xi + 238 pp.

Daniel Halliday — 2023-01-14

Review of Jeff E. Biddle's Progress Through Regression: The Life Story of the Empirical Cobb-Douglas Production Function. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021, xii + 334 pp.

Aiko Ikeo — 2023-01-26

Economic Modeling in Rawls

David C. Coker — 2023-01-23

Critics of Rawls's A Theory of Justice frequently envision his original position as containing a human consciousness. Thus, the re- strictions Rawls introduces for this ‘individual’—the lack of particular circumstantial and personal information—is considered a potential problem. The very ways in which Rawls circumscribes the knowledge available in this position is thought to compromise the personhood of the individual there, and hence as well the conclusions reached (that is, Rawls’s two principles). This paper will argue that, on the contrary, the lack of full personhood is a critical part of Rawls’s modeling strategy, and that Rawls borrowed this particular sense of modeling from eco- nomics. It is well known that Rawls worked to verse himself in economic theory, and it is difficult to overlook its use in Theory. It will be argued that it is through parallels with economic reasoning that Rawls’s original position model can be most fruitfully understood.

The Making and Unmaking of Ordoliberal Language

Anselm Küsters — 2022-11-03

Methodology and Microfoundations

Nadia Ruiz — 2022-11-25

Why We Need to Talk About Preferences

Lukas Beck — 2022-12-06

Attitudes First

Lisa Bastian — 2022-12-16

Social Engineers Changing the World

Mariana Mortágua — 2022-12-09

As part of a book symposium on Erwin Dekker's Jan Tinbergen (1903–1994) and the Rise of Economic Expertise (2021), Mariana Mortágua and Francisco Louçã reflect on the context of Tinbergen’s evolution and, more specifically, his change(s) of focus on how to engineer social progress compared to that of the closest of his colleagues, Ragnar Frisch.

Reading Tinbergen Through the Lens of Max Weber

Thomas Kayzel — 2022-12-09

As part of a book symposium on Erwin Dekker's Jan Tinbergen (1903–1994) and the Rise of Economic Expertise (2021), Thomas Kayzel reflects on Tinbergen being the 'ideal Weberian scientist' while also combining politics with science.

Ambiguity of Superiority and Authority

Jon Murphy — 2023-01-16

As part of a book symposium on Erwin Dekker's Jan Tinbergen (1903–1994) and the Rise of Economic Expertise (2021), Jon Murphy reflects on Tinbergen's and Keynes's differing views on the role of experts underlying the Tinbergen-Keynes debate.

Jan Tinbergen’s Fallacy

Michele Alacevich — 2022-11-30

As part of a book symposium on Erwin Dekker's Jan Tinbergen (1903–1994) and the Rise of Economic Expertise (2021), Michele Alacevich reflects on Tinbergen's vision of economic expertise as a-political.

Tinbergen on the Theory and Policy of Economic Development

Mauro Boianovsky — 2022-11-24

As part of a book symposium on Erwin Dekker's Jan Tinbergen (1903–1994) and the Rise of Economic Expertise (2021), Mauro Boianovsky reflects on Tinbergen's 'uniqueness' among development economists in the post-war era.

Probability and Statistics in the Tinbergen-Keynes Debates

William Peden — 2022-11-30

As part of a book symposium on Erwin Dekker's Jan Tinbergen (1903–1994) and the Rise of Economic Expertise (2021), William Peden reflects on shared views on the objectivity and nature of statistics between Tinbergen and Keynes underlying the Tinbergen-Keynes debates.

Jan Tinbergen and the Limits of Expertise

Erwin Dekker — 2023-01-31

As part of a book symposium on his Jan Tinbergen (1903–1994) and the Rise of Economic Expertise (2021), Erwin Dekker responds to commentaries by Mariana Mortágua and Francisco Louçã, Thomas Kayzel, Jon Murphy, Michele Alacevich, Mauro Boianovsky, and William Peden.

Can Normative Accounts of Discrimination Be Guided by Anti-discrimination Law? Should They?

Rona Dinur — 2022-11-06

In her recent book, Faces of Inequality (2020), Moreau aims at developing a normative account of discrimination that is guided by the main features of anti-discrimination law. The critical comment argues against this methodology, indicating that due to indeterminacy relative to their underlying normative principles, central anti-discrimination norms cannot fulfill this guiding role. Further, using the content of such norms to guide ethical discussions is likely to be misleading, as it reflects evidentiary considerations that are unique to the legal context. The critical comment’s claims are developed based on a close examination of indirect discrimination (or disparate impact) norms, and, as such, have wider implications for ongoing moral and political debates that are heavily influenced by the content of these norms.