Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: van Staveren, I.P.
Author-Name-Last: van Staveren
Author-Name-First: Irene
Author-Person: pva510
Title: Has populism reached economics? Two criteria for assessing normative empirical concepts in economics
Abstract: This paper attempts to understand why we generally feel that some normative empirical concepts in economics are unproblematic whereas others feel uncomfortable or misleading. I develop criteria to distinguish between the two on the basis of two notions from the philosophy of science: positional objectivity and thick concepts. I operationalize these with the help of two recent guidelines on good scientific practice that have been developed in debates around scientific integrity. This leads to two criteria: unavoidability and global evaluation. Following this discussion, the paper will present a case study on "ethnic fractionalization", popular in empirical research on the social determinants of economic growth. Throughout the paper I will make use of examples of other normative empirical concepts to further the understanding of the various ways in which such concepts violate the criteria that I have suggested.
Length: 34
Creation-Date: 2017-05-02
File-URL: https://repub.eur.nl/pub/99326/wp631.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
Series: RePEc:ems:euriss
Number: 631
Keywords: economics, normative concepts, scientific integrity, populism, ethnic fractionalization
Handle: RePEc:ems:euriss:99326