Researchers in political science are devoting increasing attention to the ontological commitments of their theories – that is, to what those theories presuppose about the nature of the political world. This article focuses on a recent contribution to this ‘ontological turn' in political...

This paper compares and contrasts two schools of political economy: the Austrian School, prominent members of which include Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises; and the Bloomington School, which was founded by Elinor and Vincent Ostrom. It is argued that the two traditions share a good deal in...

Historians of economic thought are paying greater attention to issues of social ontology (that is, to the assumptions that economists make about the nature of social reality). In this paper, we contribute to this burgeoning literature by exploring the hitherto neglected way in which James...

This reports sets out the results of a study of the ‘over-training' of apprentices by large manufacturers in the UK. The term ‘over-training' was traditionally used to refer to the way in which nationalised industries trained more apprentices than they needed, with the ‘surplus' being...

This paper examines the duties, skills and training of the technicians who work in the UK chemical industry. It examines how employers in the industry strive to fill technician roles, and outlines some of the problems they face in trying to do so

This paper examines the duties, skills and training of the technicians who work in the UK university science and engineering departments. It examines how universities fill technician roles, and outlines some of the problems they face in trying to do so

Tony Lawson has long advocated an ‘ontological turn' in the history of economic thought. This essay aims to contribute towards that goal by considering how one aspect of the methodology adopted of a prominent heterodox economist was informed by ontological considerations. The economist is...

This paper examines the duties, skills and training of the technicians who work in industrial biotechnology in the UK. It examines how employers in industrial biotechnology strive to fill technician roles and outlines some of the problems they face in trying to do so, drawing conclusions for...

We consider two interpretations of the role of external inspection in the public services, in the context of publicly funded work-based training programmes for young people. The first is that inspection provides substantive information to buyers concerning training quality, thereby improving...