Friedrich von Hayek, die wirkungsmächtigste Person im Neoliberalismus, hat insbesondere in seiner Theorie des "Wettbewerbs als Entdeckungsprozess" eine Utopie formuliert, deren Besonderheit darin besteht, dass sie versucht, jeder anderen Utopie - gleich welcher Richtung - ihre Berechtigung zu...

Wie selbstverständlich geht die heutige ökonomische Standardlehre davon aus, dass sie Studierenden eine feste und unveränderliche Sicht auf die Welt vermitteln kann. Doch woher kommt diese Annahme? Walter Lippmann, einer der Begründer des Neoliberalismus, gibt hierauf einen ersten Hinweis:...

This paper compares the interconnections between dominant economic thought and processes of policy-making in the area of labour market reforms in Germany in the late 1960s and the early 2000s. The transition in labour market policies in this period could be described as a change from an active...

Die moderne Volkswirtschaftslehre wirkt auf andere Wissenschaften, auf die Gesellschaft und die Politik ein. Im Kontext dazu wird in dem Paper das disziplinäre Selbstverständnis von Ökonominnen und Ökonomen herausgearbeitet, wie es den wichtigsten Lehrbüchern des Faches inhärent ist....

There is no consensus on how to measure interpersonally comparable, cardinal utility. Despite of this, people repeatedly make welfare evaluations in their everyday lives. However, people do not always agree on such evaluations, and this is one important reason for political disagreements. Thus,...

Cost-benefit analysis have been attacked by many critics because of its implicit ethical assumptions. The normative content of the method is at odds with the common attitude that economists should analyze how to reach given goals, while determination of the goals should be left to the...

At the initial stage of this project, the project group consisted of Asbjørn Aaheim, Magnus Hatlebakk and the authors. The authors are grateful for the discussion with the other project participants at this stage. We also had very useful discussion with the marine researcher Sigurd Tjelmeland...

In the information age an exchange with the media is part of the duties the economics profession has to deliver to educate the public and to ensure its position in society. A key issue is the education of policymakers through the media. It is the silver bullet of policy advice in comparison to...

Economic theory has evolved without paying proper attention to behavioral approaches, especially to social, economic, and cognitive psychology. This has recently changed by including behavioral economics courses in many doctoral study programs. Although this new development is most welcome, the...

Arguably, one of the most important developments in the field of applied economics during the last decades has been the emergence of systematic policy evaluation, with its distinct focus on the establishment of causality.By contrast to the natural sciences, the objects of our scientific interest...