Rethinking Economics : From Analogies to the Real World

Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Chapter 1: The importance of rhetoric and framing -- 1.1: Three paths -- 1.2: Rhetoric and framing.-1.2.1: Rhetoric -- 1.2.2: Framing -- Chapter 2: Logical gaps: Path A – Theory to the real world -- 2.1: What is theory? -- 2.2.: Limits of theory -- 2.2.1: Perfect competition and counterfactuals -- 2.2.2: Accepting or rejecting a theory -- 2.2.3: Evidence consistent with theory -- 2.2.4: An additional consideration: the importance of groups -- 2.3: Conclusions -- Chapter 3: Logical gaps: Path B - Theory to empirical formulations -- 3.1: Data problems -- 3.1.1: Aggregation -- 3.1.2: Proxies -- 3.1.3: More on indices -- 3.2: Functional forms -- 3.2.1: Controlling for other factors -- 3.2.2: Causality -- 3.2.3: Structural stability -- 3.3: Conclusions -- Chapter 4: Logical gaps: Path C – Empirical results to the real world -- 4.1: Using statistics for policy -- 4.1.1: The research phase -- 4.1.2: The media phase -- 4.2: Consideration of the problems -- 4.2.1: Interpretation of statistical significance -- 4.2.2: Interpretation: why not change the relationship? -- 4.3: There are standard policy questions not covered by the econometrics -- 4.3.1: An example – TV watching and attention problems -- 4.3.2: Policy questions -- 4.4: An additional example: advantage and disadvantage -- 4.5: Conclusions -- Chapter 5: A way forward -- 5.1: An example: efficiency in economics research -- 5.2: A broader context -- 5.3: In a nutshell -- 5.4: And a final word -- Appendix -- References.