George F DeMartino
Biographic Data
| ID | 5605061 |
|---|---|
| NAME | George F DeMartino |
| GIVEN NAMES | George F |
| FAMILY NAME | DeMartino |
| SIGNATURE | DEMARTINO G F |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Denver |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 9 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
The Ethical Imperative of Possibilism in an Era of Despair
The ethics of engaged scholarship in a complex world
Social scientists must grapple with how to pursue knowledge about an uncertain and complex world. This challenge is accentuated when scholars wish to engage responsibly with policy-makers and the public in the interests of social betterment. In this article, we use the scholarly literature on uncertainty and complexity to examine how these issues complicate the practice of engaged scholarship. We ground our analysis in interviews with publicly en…
The confounding problem of the counterfactual in economic explanation
Economists who have emphasized uncertainty have tended to draw a sharp epistemic distinction between an ascertainable past and an unknowable future. But in one critical respect – in extracting causal relationships – the epistemic distinction is unsustainable. Many types of causal arguments in economics depend on counterfactual reasoning. Counterfactualizing entails the construction of fictions about what would have happened or would happen in the…
Conversation with Deirdre McCloskey: Win-win-win-win … lose
Scientific judgment requires quantitative judgment, not endlessly more machinery.As lovely and useful as the machinery is, at the end, having skillfully used it
The Tragedy of Economics: On the Nature of Economic Harm and the Responsibilities of Economists
Economists cause harm as they try to do good: that is the tragedy of economics. That claim is a non-normative description, not an indictment of the profession. Harm arises because of the uneven impact across society of most economic policy interventions, and because of the irreparable ignorance economists face in their work. But the profession gives inadequate attention to the harm its practice induces—a claim that is both positive and normative.…
Econogenic Harm and the Case for ‘Economy Harm Profile’ Analysis
The economics profession aspires to promote the public good, defined variously as social welfare, freedom, justice, sustainability, and other valued goods. But the institutions, rules, and practices economists advocate in pursuit of that goal also cause harm. The profession has nevertheless been relatively inattentive to what I term ‘econogenic’ or economist-induced harm. An adequate engagement with econogenic harm would require new concepts, fra…
Reconstructing Globalization in an Illiberal Era
In their new indictments of global neoliberalism and the economic profession's culpability in its harms, Dani Rodrik and Joseph Stiglitz press the case for reconstructed globalization that generates benefits for all and not just for corporate and financial elites. Both books are deeply consistent with the insights of Karl Polanyi, who had identified the inherent contradictions of the project to create what he called a self-regulating economy. Lik…
The Economist's Oath: On Economic Agency, Economic Theory, Pluralism, and Econogenic Harm
This paper responds to arguments presented by the four contributors to the symposium on The Economist's Oath, concerning the failure of the economics profession to recognize and respond appropriately to the daunting ethical questions that arise in the context of its work. The essay first explores the paternalistic sensibilities of many economists, who believe that their expertise grants them authority to decide for others. Second, the essay ackno…
Harming Irreparably: On Neoliberalism, Kaldor-Hicks, and the Paretian Guarantee
The global neoliberal project, which entailed inter alia financial liberalization that accelerated financialization of the world economy, was advocated by leading Austrian, Chicago School neoclassical, and New Keynesian economists, despite awareness that the project would harm many members of society even as it benefitted others. To the extent that they were efficacious in their advocacy, economists contributed to the imposition of serious harm. …
The ethics of engaged scholarship in a complex world
Social scientists must grapple with how to pursue knowledge about an uncertain and complex world. This challenge is accentuated when scholars wish to engage responsibly with policy-makers and the public in the interests of social betterment. In this article, we use the scholarly literature on uncertainty and complexity to examine how these issues complicate the practice of engaged scholarship. We ground our analysis in interviews with publicly en…
Harming Irreparably: On Neoliberalism, Kaldor-Hicks, and the Paretian Guarantee
The global neoliberal project, which entailed inter alia financial liberalization that accelerated financialization of the world economy, was advocated by leading Austrian, Chicago School neoclassical, and New Keynesian economists, despite awareness that the project would harm many members of society even as it benefitted others. To the extent that they were efficacious in their advocacy, economists contributed to the imposition of serious harm. …
Reconstructing Globalization in an Illiberal Era
In their new indictments of global neoliberalism and the economic profession's culpability in its harms, Dani Rodrik and Joseph Stiglitz press the case for reconstructed globalization that generates benefits for all and not just for corporate and financial elites. Both books are deeply consistent with the insights of Karl Polanyi, who had identified the inherent contradictions of the project to create what he called a self-regulating economy. Lik…
Harming Irreparably: On Neoliberalism, Kaldor-Hicks, and the Paretian Guarantee
The global neoliberal project, which entailed inter alia financial liberalization that accelerated financialization of the world economy, was advocated by leading Austrian, Chicago School neoclassical, and New Keynesian economists, despite awareness that the project would harm many members of society even as it benefitted others. To the extent that they were efficacious in their advocacy, economists contributed to the imposition of serious harm. …
The Economist's Oath: On Economic Agency, Economic Theory, Pluralism, and Econogenic Harm
This paper responds to arguments presented by the four contributors to the symposium on The Economist's Oath, concerning the failure of the economics profession to recognize and respond appropriately to the daunting ethical questions that arise in the context of its work. The essay first explores the paternalistic sensibilities of many economists, who believe that their expertise grants them authority to decide for others. Second, the essay ackno…
Econogenic Harm and the Case for ‘Economy Harm Profile’ Analysis
The economics profession aspires to promote the public good, defined variously as social welfare, freedom, justice, sustainability, and other valued goods. But the institutions, rules, and practices economists advocate in pursuit of that goal also cause harm. The profession has nevertheless been relatively inattentive to what I term ‘econogenic’ or economist-induced harm. An adequate engagement with econogenic harm would require new concepts, fra…
Reconstructing Globalization in an Illiberal Era
In their new indictments of global neoliberalism and the economic profession's culpability in its harms, Dani Rodrik and Joseph Stiglitz press the case for reconstructed globalization that generates benefits for all and not just for corporate and financial elites. Both books are deeply consistent with the insights of Karl Polanyi, who had identified the inherent contradictions of the project to create what he called a self-regulating economy. Lik…
The Tragedy of Economics: On the Nature of Economic Harm and the Responsibilities of Economists
Economists cause harm as they try to do good: that is the tragedy of economics. That claim is a non-normative description, not an indictment of the profession. Harm arises because of the uneven impact across society of most economic policy interventions, and because of the irreparable ignorance economists face in their work. But the profession gives inadequate attention to the harm its practice induces—a claim that is both positive and normative.…
Conversation with Deirdre McCloskey: Win-win-win-win … lose
Scientific judgment requires quantitative judgment, not endlessly more machinery.As lovely and useful as the machinery is, at the end, having skillfully used it
The confounding problem of the counterfactual in economic explanation
Economists who have emphasized uncertainty have tended to draw a sharp epistemic distinction between an ascertainable past and an unknowable future. But in one critical respect – in extracting causal relationships – the epistemic distinction is unsustainable. Many types of causal arguments in economics depend on counterfactual reasoning. Counterfactualizing entails the construction of fictions about what would have happened or would happen in the…
The ethics of engaged scholarship in a complex world
Social scientists must grapple with how to pursue knowledge about an uncertain and complex world. This challenge is accentuated when scholars wish to engage responsibly with policy-makers and the public in the interests of social betterment. In this article, we use the scholarly literature on uncertainty and complexity to examine how these issues complicate the practice of engaged scholarship. We ground our analysis in interviews with publicly en…
The Ethical Imperative of Possibilism in an Era of Despair
Economics (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Economic Theory and Institutions (5 works) · Positive economics (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Harm (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Neoclassical economics (3 works) · Economic Theory and Policy (2 works)