Erasmus School of Philosophy
Erasmus School of Philosophy

EIPE Research Statement

ESPhil Research Theme Philosophy and Economics (EIPE)

Interdisciplinary research in philosophy and economics is indispensable for addressing pressing societal challenges. The Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics (EIPE) is the leading research centre in the philosophy of economics. Founded in 1997, it has been playing an influential role in shaping the research agenda and educating the next generations of philosophers of economics. Research at EIPE is deeply embedded in epistemology, philosophy of science, ethics, political philosophy, as well as economics.

Methodology of economics, philosophy of social sciences, and social epistemology

The methodology of economics is a subfield of the philosophy of science. Here, we study the myriad of ways in which the products of economics such as predictions, explanations, and theories are created using models, experiments, econometrics and statistical analysis and other methods. At EIPE, we have research strengths in virtually all areas of methodology, including value-ladenness of science, modelling, scientific explanation, causation and causal inference, and measurement. We also study these kinds of subjects in the context of broader debates in the philosophy of social science and social epistemology, such as when we address the use of qualitative and quantitative methods in the social sciences, the performativity and value-ladenness of financial economics, and the collective epistemology of misinformation. 

Ethical aspects of economics, climate ethics, and political philosophy 

Economics ethics comprises research related to normative questions in economics and the ethical dimensions of socio-economic systems. We contribute to ethics and political philosophy by discussing the normative implications of market outcomes in the light of concepts such as distributive justice, fairness, freedom, exploitation, in/equality, and sustainable development, among others. We study how theories, concepts and facts in economics presuppose ethical commitments, such as the implicit moral judgements in the measurement of welfare and well-being. We also investigate the ethical and political implications arising from fossil fuel economies and the ethical and epistemological problems pertaining to scientific tools used for understanding climate change.

Rationality and choice, logic, and formal ethics

Rationality combines research in the philosophy of action and philosophical decision theory with rational choice theory. Here, we study preferences and choices by individuals and groups, as analysed in the various branches of rational and social choice theory. Members of EIPE are specifically interested in models of agency and preference formation, behavioural economics, intertemporal decision-making, as well as social choice theory and models of deliberation, and their application to problems of representative democracy. Some of the research at EIPE is located in the field of ‘Formal Ethics’, a thriving field that employs formal tools, such as deontic logic, axiomatics or game theory, to shed light on ethical problems.  

Engaging economics: welfare economics, and the history of economic thought

Philosophical research on the methodological and foundational aspects of economics must proceed in close contact with economics. We collaborate closely with economists in the Erasmus School of Economics, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management and Tinbergen Institute, as well as internationally. In particular, we analyse financial economics and evolutionary and institutionalist economics. We also study the theoretical foundations and normative precommitments of welfare economics, ranging from the broadening of the informational basis in welfare assessment to include information about freedom, to the challenges welfare economic theory faces in the light of recent findings in behavioural economics. We also contribute to the history of economic thought. Here, we analyse the manner in which economics makes implicit assumptions about the underlying ontology, causation and the relation between the individual and the social. We study historical developments in mainstream economics, such as Paul Samuelson and Jan Tinbergen. 

Research projects at EIPE
 

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