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| List of Figures | |
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| List of Tables | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| The Why, What and How of Philosophy of Economics | |
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| Overview | |
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| Two Opposing Paradigms | |
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| The Philosophy of Economics: Interpreting Theory, Methodology and Ethics | |
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| The Aims of Economics and the Problem of Purpose | |
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| Study Questions | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Interpreting Economic Theory | |
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| Explaining Economic Phenomena | |
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| Overview | |
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| Explanation as an Aim of Economics | |
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| Phenomena | |
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| Why-Questions, Explanandum and Explanans | |
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| Scientific Laws | |
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| The D-N Model and Its Discontents | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Study Questions | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Rationality | |
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| Rational-Choice Theory | |
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| Overview | |
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| Folk Psychology | |
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| Ordinal-Choice Theory | |
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| Cardinal-Choice Theory | |
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| Stability, Invariance and Justifiers | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Study Questions | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Game Theory | |
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| Overview | |
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| Whither the Euro? | |
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| Some Games and Some Formalism | |
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| Game Theory's Payoffs | |
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| Game Theory and Rationality | |
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| Game Theory as Explanatory Theory | |
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| Study Questions | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Causality | |
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| Causation and Causal Tendencies | |
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| Overview | |
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| The Rise of Causal Talk in Economics | |
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| Correlation Is Not Causation: So What Is Causation? | |
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| Causal Tendencies | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Study Questions | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Mechanisms | |
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| Overview | |
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| Hume on Money | |
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| Four Notions of Causal Mechanism | |
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| Mechanisms as Underlying Structures or Processes | |
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| Mechanisms, Methodological Individualism and Micro-Foundations | |
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| Mechanistic Explanation | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Study Questions | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Models | |
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| Models, Idealization, Explanation | |
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| Overview | |
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| Causal Explanation | |
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| Economic Models | |
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| Idealizations | |
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| Explanation | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Study Questions | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Methodology | |
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| Measurement | |
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| Overview | |
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| Observation | |
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| Consumer Price Inflation | |
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| Unemployment and GDP | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Study Questions | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Econometrics | |
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| Overview | |
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| Induction, Deduction and All That | |
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| Mostly Harmless Econometrics? | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Study Questions | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Experiments | |
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| Overview | |
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| Speaking to Theorists | |
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| Searching for Facts | |
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| Whispering into the Ears of Princes | |
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| Methodological Issues | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Study Questions | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Evidence-Based Policy | |
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| Overview | |
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| What Is Evidence-Based Policy? | |
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| What Is an RCT, and What Are Its Virtues? | |
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| What, Then, Is Wrong with Evidence-Based Policy? | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Study Questions | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Ethics | |
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| Welfare and Weil-Being | |
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| Overview | |
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| Welfare Economics | |
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| Well-Being | |
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| The Evidential View of Preferences | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Study Questions | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Markets and Morals | |
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| Overview | |
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| Market Failure | |
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| Transaction Costs and the Coase Theorem | |
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| Intellectual Property Rights | |
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| Commodification: What Money Can't Buy | |
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| Study Questions | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Inequality and Distributive Justice | |
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| Overview | |
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| Inequality | |
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| Principles of Distributive Justice | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Study Questions | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Behavioral Economics and Nudge | |
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| Overview | |
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| Behavioral Economics | |
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| Libertarian Paternalism | |
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| Philosophical Issues in Libertarian Paternalism | |
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| Conclusions | |
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| Study Questions | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| References | |
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| Index | |