ON CLOSED SYSTEMS AND THE LANGUAGE OF ECONOMIC DISCOURSE

This article addresses a few of the major points identified by Tony La wson in his book Reality and Economics (Routledge 1997). Traditional e conomic models are profoundly closed, emanating from reasoning process es that are both deductivist and positivist by nature. Here, individua ls are prescribed to behave according to mechanical, socially abstract ed fashions that, in fact, belie any semblance of real human choice. M oreover, as Lawson observes, relationality in these models is strictly external, in that the natures of individuals are not affected by thei r participation in market activity. Under these conditions, models can be easily constructed by which markets yield unique equilibrium outco mes, whereby the constancy of the conjunctions of events yield law-lik e economic assertions. Instead, Lawson embraces a critical realist per spective that posits human behavior to be both structured and internal ly relational, i.e., where interactions with others can affect the ver y natures of those individuals. As such, human relations can be tempor ally situated in the context of structured social contracts, while sti ll embodying the organic elements from which those agents and structur es can be reproduced and transformed. From these principles, this essa y explores some recent work in Keynesian and Post Keynesian thought. I n addition, this critical realist framework considers some development s in New Keynesian Economics and Endogenous Growth Theory.