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Cambridge Journal of Economics Advance Access originally published online on January 8, 2009
Cambridge Journal of Economics 2009 33(5):985-1000; doi:10.1093/cje/ben058
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved.

This article appears in the following Cambridge Journal of Economics issue: Special focus: Moral Economy and Development Economics [View the issue table of contents]

Economics as social engineering? Questioning the performativity thesis

Ana C. Santos and João Rodrigues*

* University of Coimbra, Portugal and University of Manchester

Address for correspondence: Ana C. Santos, CES, Centre for Social Studies, School of Economics, University of Coimbra, Colégio S. Jerónimo, Apartado 3087, 3001-401 Coimbra, Portugal; email: anacsantos{at}ces.uc.pt; joao.rodrigues{at}postgrad.manchester.ac.uk

The social engineering ambitions of economics have never been so high. Economists are increasingly invited to construct markets from scratch or to design mechanisms that mimic the market. Science students take these social engineering efforts as evidence for the capacity of economists to make the economy more like its description in economic theories. This paper scrutinises one such viewpoint. It examines Michel Callon's performativity thesis that presents the stronger stance regarding the impact of economics on the economy—economic theory can be made true by construction. It concludes that the research carried out thus far fails to support this thesis. It has shown that economics, understood in a very loose sense, has an active role in market building.

Key Words: Auctions • Experiments • Market mechanisms • Performativity

JEL classifications: A11, C90, Z13

Manuscript received March 18, 2008; final version received October 29, 2008.


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