The Consequences of Economic Rhetoric

by Arjo Klamer (Editor), Donald N. McCloskey (Editor), Robert Solow (Editor)

The field of economics proves to be a matter of metaphor and storytelling--its mathematics is metaphoric and its policymaking is narrative. Economists have begun to realize this and to rethink how they speak. This volume is the result of a conference held at Wellesley College, involving both theoretical and applied economists, that explored the consequences of the rhetoric and the conversation of the field of economics.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Arjo Klamer is professor of the Economics of Art and Culture at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and holds the world's only chair in the field of cultural economics. Prior to that and after acquiring his PhD at Duke University, he taught for many years at several universities in the US, including Wellesley College and George Washington University.

In 1984, he attracted a great deal of attention with his Conversations with Economists. In his latest book, Speaking of Economics (Routledge, 2007), he pursues themes that emerged from that book. He has collaborated with Deirdre McCloskey to promote the rhetorical perspective on economics. The Economic Conversation, a textbook forthcoming in 2008 (Palgrave)and co-authored with McCloskey and Stephen Ziliak employs a groundbreaking "open-method" approach to teaching first-year micro- and macroeconomics.

His current research focuses on the cultural dimension of economic life and the values of art. He is member of the board of various cultural organisations and chairman of the board of trustees of "Het grafisch lyceum" te Rotterdam. He is actively involved in public debates in the Netherlands and is founding director of a new university, Academia Vitae in Deventer.