Edward Nik-Khah
Biographic Data
| ID | 354167 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Edward Nik-Khah |
| GIVEN NAMES | Edward |
| FAMILY NAME | Nik-Khah |
| SIGNATURE | NIK-KHAH E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Roanoke College |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5840-8744 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 39 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 9 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Rarg Against the Machine
A few years ago, I participated in a panel discussing the economics of market design. Popular news outlets had recently picked up on the migration of economists to Silicon Valley, attracting renewed attention to the field. Within this discussion, someone posed a question: “Economists claim to be neutral experts in the evaluation of all forms of decision-making. But we only ever recommend the replacement of bureaucratic decision-making and democra…
The Closed Market: Platform Design and the Computerization of Economics
The platform firm has emerged as an important site for the production of economic knowledge. This paper situates the work performed by a newly christened group of “tech economists” under the auspices of these firms within a larger history of economists’ engagement with information processing. Previously, those economists wishing to grapple with the computer would ally with the military, eventually leading them to accept an understanding of market…
On going the market one better: Economic Market Design and the Contradictions of Building Markets for Public Purposes
Before the 1970s, no economists claimed an ability to fix markets; now economists make markets in a smorgasbord of shapes and flavours. Secondary commentary on market design fails to appreciate how momentous this change was. We summarize the development of market design through its first attempted application—auctions for airport slots. Economists reconceptualized markets from generic allocation processes to boutique information processors. The n…
The Knowledge We Have Lost in Information
In contrast with conventional histories of “economic rationality,” in this book we propose that the history of modern microeconomics is better organized as the treatment of information in postwar economics. Beginning with a brief primer on the nature of information, we then explore how economists first managed their rendezvous with it, tracing its origins to the Neoliberal Thought Collective and Friedrich Hayek. The response to this perceived thr…
The Knowledge We Have Lost in Information: The History of Information in Modern Economics
Information is a central concept in economics, and The Knowledge We Have Lost in Information explores its treatment in modern economics. The study of information, far from offering enlightenment, resulted in all matter of confusion for economists and the public. Philip Mirowski and Edward Nik-Khah argue that the conventional wisdom suggesting rationality was the core of modern economics is incomplete. In this trenchant investigation, they demonst…
Introduction to the Symposium on the Contributions of Business to Economics
This essay introduces the symposium and records some reflections from symposium participants on the role of businesses in the formation of economic ideas. What are some specific challenges in researching the contributions of businesspersons to economics? Which topics or events involving the role of businesspersons in economics are most in need of scholarly analysis? What are some of the key historical trends that can be discerned in how businessp…
Power to the people’: A reply to Healy, Mangin, and Applbaum
In challenging one portion of the history presented in my article, Healy et al. argue that Louis Lasagna was a ‘classical liberal’ who sought only to increase the scientific stature of the physician–patient encounter. They advance this interpretation to encourage science and technology studies scholars to heed Lasagna’s ideas about how to organize the medical marketplace. I argue that Healy et al. mischaracterize Lasagna’s ideas. I conclude with …
Neoliberal pharmaceutical science and the Chicago School of Economics
In recent years, science studies scholars have critically examined several methods used by the pharmaceutical industry to exert control over knowledge about drugs. Complementary literatures on 'medical neoliberalism' and 'neoliberal science' draw attention to the economic ideas justifying such methods of organizing knowledge, and in so doing suggest that neoliberal thinkers may play an important role in developing them. As yet, the nature of this…
Private Intellectuals and Public Perplexity: The Economics Profession and the Economic Crisis
We explore recent arguments that economists may not serve to enlighten their publics so much as foster surplus confusion and doubt concerning controversies in their areas of expertise, particularly with regard to the recent worldwide economic crisis. After describing agnotology, the new area of the history of science that studies such phenomena, we recount two instances of these activities: the role of market designers in the framing and justific…
On going the market one better: Economic Market Design and the Contradictions of Building Markets for Public Purposes
Before the 1970s, no economists claimed an ability to fix markets; now economists make markets in a smorgasbord of shapes and flavours. Secondary commentary on market design fails to appreciate how momentous this change was. We summarize the development of market design through its first attempted application—auctions for airport slots. Economists reconceptualized markets from generic allocation processes to boutique information processors. The n…
Neoliberal pharmaceutical science and the Chicago School of Economics
In recent years, science studies scholars have critically examined several methods used by the pharmaceutical industry to exert control over knowledge about drugs. Complementary literatures on 'medical neoliberalism' and 'neoliberal science' draw attention to the economic ideas justifying such methods of organizing knowledge, and in so doing suggest that neoliberal thinkers may play an important role in developing them. As yet, the nature of this…
Private Intellectuals and Public Perplexity: The Economics Profession and the Economic Crisis
We explore recent arguments that economists may not serve to enlighten their publics so much as foster surplus confusion and doubt concerning controversies in their areas of expertise, particularly with regard to the recent worldwide economic crisis. After describing agnotology, the new area of the history of science that studies such phenomena, we recount two instances of these activities: the role of market designers in the framing and justific…
Introduction to the Symposium on the Contributions of Business to Economics
This essay introduces the symposium and records some reflections from symposium participants on the role of businesses in the formation of economic ideas. What are some specific challenges in researching the contributions of businesspersons to economics? Which topics or events involving the role of businesspersons in economics are most in need of scholarly analysis? What are some of the key historical trends that can be discerned in how businessp…
Private Intellectuals and Public Perplexity: The Economics Profession and the Economic Crisis
We explore recent arguments that economists may not serve to enlighten their publics so much as foster surplus confusion and doubt concerning controversies in their areas of expertise, particularly with regard to the recent worldwide economic crisis. After describing agnotology, the new area of the history of science that studies such phenomena, we recount two instances of these activities: the role of market designers in the framing and justific…
Power to the people’: A reply to Healy, Mangin, and Applbaum
In challenging one portion of the history presented in my article, Healy et al. argue that Louis Lasagna was a ‘classical liberal’ who sought only to increase the scientific stature of the physician–patient encounter. They advance this interpretation to encourage science and technology studies scholars to heed Lasagna’s ideas about how to organize the medical marketplace. I argue that Healy et al. mischaracterize Lasagna’s ideas. I conclude with …
Neoliberal pharmaceutical science and the Chicago School of Economics
In recent years, science studies scholars have critically examined several methods used by the pharmaceutical industry to exert control over knowledge about drugs. Complementary literatures on 'medical neoliberalism' and 'neoliberal science' draw attention to the economic ideas justifying such methods of organizing knowledge, and in so doing suggest that neoliberal thinkers may play an important role in developing them. As yet, the nature of this…
The Knowledge We Have Lost in Information
In contrast with conventional histories of “economic rationality,” in this book we propose that the history of modern microeconomics is better organized as the treatment of information in postwar economics. Beginning with a brief primer on the nature of information, we then explore how economists first managed their rendezvous with it, tracing its origins to the Neoliberal Thought Collective and Friedrich Hayek. The response to this perceived thr…
The Knowledge We Have Lost in Information: The History of Information in Modern Economics
Information is a central concept in economics, and The Knowledge We Have Lost in Information explores its treatment in modern economics. The study of information, far from offering enlightenment, resulted in all matter of confusion for economists and the public. Philip Mirowski and Edward Nik-Khah argue that the conventional wisdom suggesting rationality was the core of modern economics is incomplete. In this trenchant investigation, they demonst…
Introduction to the Symposium on the Contributions of Business to Economics
This essay introduces the symposium and records some reflections from symposium participants on the role of businesses in the formation of economic ideas. What are some specific challenges in researching the contributions of businesspersons to economics? Which topics or events involving the role of businesspersons in economics are most in need of scholarly analysis? What are some of the key historical trends that can be discerned in how businessp…
On going the market one better: Economic Market Design and the Contradictions of Building Markets for Public Purposes
Before the 1970s, no economists claimed an ability to fix markets; now economists make markets in a smorgasbord of shapes and flavours. Secondary commentary on market design fails to appreciate how momentous this change was. We summarize the development of market design through its first attempted application—auctions for airport slots. Economists reconceptualized markets from generic allocation processes to boutique information processors. The n…
Rarg Against the Machine
A few years ago, I participated in a panel discussing the economics of market design. Popular news outlets had recently picked up on the migration of economists to Silicon Valley, attracting renewed attention to the field. Within this discussion, someone posed a question: “Economists claim to be neutral experts in the evaluation of all forms of decision-making. But we only ever recommend the replacement of bureaucratic decision-making and democra…
The Closed Market: Platform Design and the Computerization of Economics
The platform firm has emerged as an important site for the production of economic knowledge. This paper situates the work performed by a newly christened group of “tech economists” under the auspices of these firms within a larger history of economists’ engagement with information processing. Previously, those economists wishing to grapple with the computer would ally with the military, eventually leading them to accept an understanding of market…
Political science (7 works) · Economic Theory and Institutions (6 works) · Economics (6 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Neoclassical economics (4 works) · Positive economics (4 works) · Epistemology (3 works) · Philosophy (3 works) · Business (2 works) · Computer Science (2 works)