Divided we stand? Professional consensus and political conflict in academic economics

Arbeitspapier

In this paper we address the issue of the role of ideology and political preferences of publically engaged economists and contribute to the debate on consensus in economics. To do so, we conduct a social network analysis on the signatories of economist petitions, which we identify as one channel for economists to exert public influence. We base our analysis on 77 public policy petitions and presidential anti-/endorsement letters from 2008-2017 in the United States with more than 6,400 signatories and check the robustness of our results with six sub-networks. Our contribution is twofold: On the one hand we provide an extended empirical basis for the debate on consensus in economics and the role of politics and ideology in economics. On the other hand we provide a viable tool to trace the ideological leaning of (prospective) economist petitions and economists based on the social structure of petition networks.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Working Paper Serie ; No. Ök-51

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Role of Economics; Role of Economists; Market for Economists ; Relation of Economics to Social Values ; Sociology of Economics ; History of Economic Thought since 1925: General ; History of Economic Thought: Individuals: General ; Microeconomic Policy: Formulation, Implementation, and Evaluation ; General Outlook and Conditions ; General Financial Markets: Government Policy and Regulation ; Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs ; Capitalist Systems: Political Economy
• Subject: social network analysis ; sociology of economics ; consensus ; public economists ; economist petitions ; United States

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Beyer, Karl M. ; Pühringer, Stephan
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Cusanus Hochschule, Institut für Ökonomie und Institut für Philosophie
• (where): Bernkastel-Kues
• (when): 2019

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/206873
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET