Andreas Freytag
Social Science and the Society
Approaches to Economic Science
Part 2: What is Social Science?
(Module MW26.1)
Winter term 2011/12
PD Dr. M. Pasche
Prof. Dr. A. Freytag (section 2.7)
2.7 Social Science and the Society
© Freytag 2011
1
Andreas Freytag
Social Science and the Society
“Her Majesty The Queen
…
Madam,
when Your Majesty visited the London School of Economics last November, you
quite rightly asked: why had nobody noticed that the credit crunch was on its way?
The British Academy convened a forum on 17 June 2009 to debate your question,
with contributions from a range of experts from business, the City, its regulators,
academia, and government. …”
…So in summary, Your Majesty, the failure to foresee the timing, extent and severity
of the crisis and to head it off, while it had many causes, was principally a failure of
the collective imagination of many bright people, both in this country and
internationally, to understand the risks to the system as a whole….”*
* Besley, Timothey et al. (2009), Letter to the Queen“ Homo Oeconomicus, 2010,
forthcoming
© Freytag 2011
2
Andreas Freytag
Social Science and the Society
“Her Majesty The Queen
…
Madam,
We are writing both in response to the question you posed at the London School of
Economics last November – concerning why few economists had foreseen the credit
crunch – and the answer to you from Professors Tim Besley and Peter Hennessy
dated 22 July.
We agree with many of the points made by Professors Besley and Hennessy…but we
regard their overall analysis as inadequate because it fails to acknowledge any
deficiency in the training or culture of economists themselves…
…the letter by Professors Tim Besley and Peter Hennessy overlooks the part that
many leading economists have had in turning economics into a discipline that is
detached from the real world, and in promoting unrealistic assumptions that have
helped to sustain an uncritical view of how markets operate. …”*
Hodgson, Geoffrey et al. (2009), Letter to the Queen, Homo Oeconomicus, 2010,
forthcoming.
© Freytag 2011
3
Andreas Freytag
Social Science and the Society
What do these letters tell us?
1)
Social science is prone to extraordinary failure
2)
This holds particularly if it becomes essentially self-referential!
3)
Social science is not a monolith; its representatives differ from each other
wrt methods and aims
4)
Problems within social science reflect difficulties of social science to define
its relationship with society
5)
Social science has an obligation to deliver valuable research
6)
Social science has to justify its existence (see the development of
humanities in UK)
See also: Symposium: Letter to the Queen, Homo Oeconomicus, Volume 27, No 3 (2010),
contributions by Peter Skott, John Hudson, Andreas Freytag, Leif Helland, Gebhard
© Freytag 2011
Krchgässner, Alain Marciano and Heinz D. Kurz
4
Andreas Freytag
Social Science and the Society
Social Science and the Society – the problems
Problem #1:
What is social science?
Problem #2:
Economics and other social sciences are dealing with very
complex systems; c.p.-analysis rule rather than exception 
precision low, reason to criticize
Problem #3:
Researcher is part of the system  endogeneity?
Problem #4:
What is the quality of science?
Problem #5:
What is and should be academic independence?
Problem #6:
Public financed academia and its freedom?
Problem #7:
He who pays the piper calls the tune? How to deal with external
partners?
Problem #8:
Students
© Freytag 2011
5
Andreas Freytag
Problem #1:
Social Science and the Society
What is social science?
Economics belongs to social science as it deals with division of labor. This becomes
clear when on looks for a sensible definition of
“Economics is what economists do” (Marshall, Say and Viner)
 sense?
“Economics is dealing with the economy”
 science as a collection of allotments!
“Economics is dealing with scarcity and resource allocation” (Lord Robbins)
 social engineering as result?
 is economics another natural science?
“Economics deals with chances and boundaries of human interaction in order to
create mutual benefits” (Homann and Suchanek)
 refers to division of labor, transactions etc.
 economics as social science!
© Freytag 2011
6
Andreas Freytag
Social Science and the Society
Thus, it is important that Economics deals with social interaction. This implies the
danger of arbitrary and non-rational behavior.
It also implies that it cannot completely refrain from normative statements.
 Positive analysis (analyzing what is)
 Normative analysis (using a set of theoretical criteria)
 weak vs strong value judgement
weak: allocation
strong: distribution (not allowed);
 weakness or strength?
What are the methodological implications?
 Complex theoretical relations need simple and clear language, i.e. mathematics
 however, economics is not a natural science, controlled experiments are still not
possible
 no argument without a number
 internal division of labor
© Freytag 2011
7
Andreas Freytag
Problem #2:
Social Science and the Society
Economics and other social sciences
are dealing with very complex systems
The fact that social interaction is subject of our analysis makes it difficult to get the
full picture in theoretical and empirical models.
 Strict assumptions
 axioms
 ceteris paribus clause
 endogeneity problem
 feedback loops
• There is a need for simplification  math is necessary.
• Some economists criticize the mainstream for using models  critical realists.
• Others do not like the models for their pro-market approach (Letter #2)
• Others do not appreciate the neglect of institutions and the static nature of many
models.
• Others do not believe in steady-state equilibria.
© Freytag 2011
8
Andreas Freytag
Problem #3:
Social Science and the Society
Researcher is part of the system
 endogeneity?
The problem is that the modeller herself is part of the model.
 Does this imply a bias?
 Can we imagine models without our own value judgements?
 Prognosis: own objectives?
 Consulting, policy advice: own objectives?
In a television talk show, a leading German politician claimed that an economics
professor, who is a civil servant should not give advice about wage flexibility. The
professor is not able to judge it as he never is in such a situation, so the justification.
Right?
Hypothesis: since everyone is part of the economy, the respect for expertise is low.
© Freytag 2011
9
Andreas Freytag
Problem #4:
Social Science and the Society
What is the quality of science?
How to measure quality? Who measures quality?
 external benchmark?
economic growth? (community as such)
appearance in the media? (single scientists)
official prizes?
appointment in advisory councils etc?
salary?
students judgements?
…
 internal benchmark?
Nobel Prize, other prizes?
quotations? rankings?
 hypothesis: Rankings mirror the inability of
scholars to judge their colleagues!
fundraising? administrative work?
what about fashions and trends? (Kuhn: marginal revolution)
publishing as prostitution?
© Freytag 2011
10
Andreas Freytag
Social Science and the Society
 mixture of both?
Digression: The Economics of the Nobel Prize*
The unofficial criteria of the Nobel Committee are: specificity, originality and importance. It
seems that Economics has moved away from that group.
In reality:
Missionary or technician?
Background: Chance or temptation? World views? Family background?
Role of teachers?
History’s heavy footprint
Lone wolf or tribal animal?
Puzzle solvers or system builders? Puzzlers or masters?
The unlikely source of crucial ideas
What fish in what pond?
Notions of progress?
Substitutive, cumulative and circular progress
Science vs. scientism?
* Horn, Karen (2009), Roads to Wisdom, Conversation with Ten Nobel Laureates in Economics,
Cheltenham and Northampton: Edward Elgar.
© Freytag 2011
11
Andreas Freytag
Problem #5:
Social Science and the Society
What is and should be academic
independence?
In a television talk show, a leading German politician claimed that an economics
professor, who is a civil servant should not give advice about wage flexibility. The
professor is not able to judge it as he never is in such a situation, so the justification.
So why should a professor be a civil servant?
 Compensation for high security?
 Financial independence allows independent research?
 Civil servant status makes independent form government order?
no
depends
depends
In effect, there is no need to grant professors the status of a civil servant.
© Freytag 2011
12
Andreas Freytag
Social Science and the Society
However, academic independence can be very helpful for the academic work (both
teaching and research)
 Imagine social science professors who argue scientificly funded about the role of
government in education, the economy etc.
If they are too dependent on the government and have very flexible work contracts at
the same time, they might be subject to pressure to teach the “right” themes and
lessons.
Can they teach revolution (Problem #6)?*
This is not the only aspect of academic independence:
 Financial independence vs. laziness!
 third interested parties (Problem #7)
* James Buchanan (1979), What Should Economists Do?, Chapter 14: Public Finance and
Academic Freedom, Indianapolis: Liberty Press.
© Freytag 2011
13
Andreas Freytag
Problem #6:
Social Science and the Society
Publicly financed academia and its
freedom?
This problem is closely related to problems #5 and #7.
What can the public expect from academia which it finances?
 obedience?
 critical minds?
 independent research?
 independent critical teaching?
 what is critical: can the public afford to pay teachers who call for marxist
revolution?
 public universities and subsidized consulting?
 public universities and patents?
© Freytag 2011
14
Andreas Freytag
Social Science and the Society
Problem #7:
He who pays the piper calls the tune?
How to deal with external partners?
Social scientist are involved in policy advice and consulting of private agents. This
makes them vulnerable for corruption, media attention and bribery as well as
hijacking.

Corruption: the results are biased.

Media attention: Professors are vein.

Hijacking: interested parties claim that the results of research have certain
policy implications (theory of strategic trade policy)
To protect oneself from these dangers, it is sensible to base policy advice on peer
reviewed research (cross-checking).
The financial independence may help (Problem #6).
© Freytag 2011
15
Andreas Freytag
Social Science and the Society
Reputation and Commitment in Consulting
Short term vs. long term
Independence might be costly, as some attractive research and consulting projects
will not be raised.
Nevertheless, it may be very helpful to build up a reputation as being incorruptible.
Reputation matters: An independent thinker may well be highly appreciated in the
public and raise projects in the long run.
Nota bene:
it may be adverse to the interests of the consulted firm,
government branch or the like to insist on certain results or their
absence
In particular, young scholars cannot afford to be too accomodating. There is the
trade-off between research and personal money on the one hand and reputation on
the other hand.
© Freytag 2011
16
Andreas Freytag
Social Science and the Society
Problem #8:
Honesty
1) There have been a number of spectacular cases of plagiarism of PhDs in German
politics. These people have:
• copied without citing or
• obviously hired ghostwriters.
2) In other cases, authors have submitted the same paper several times to different
journals without cross-citations  several publications of (exactly) the same content
but different title (sic!)
3) Others “treat” their data until the results are fitting the expectations  spectacular
cases in natural science.
4) There also have been cases of applications for grants with “fake” publications.
© Freytag 2011
All forms of dishonesty have to be rejected and punished.
17
Andreas Freytag
Social Science and the Society
Problem #9:
Students

Finally, we come to the objects of this class, this time treated as subject of the course.
Universities offer higher education in an increasingly competitive environment. They
are dependent on high enrollment as otherwise the public funding dries out.*
 students fee and the incentives
Bologna-Reform
 accreditation
 niches
 transferability
 employability
 Rankings and their meaning (Cantines, grades etc.)
 Competition and the mass university
 Alumni and their tasks
© Freytag 2011
*Frey, Bruno S. (2010), Withering Academia?, Munich: CESIfo,
http://www.cesifo-group.de/cesifo/newsletter/3209_Academia.htm.
18