Taking Economics to Bed: An Essay about the Pitfalls and Possibilities for Cultural Economics

Culture as a topic in economics is currently experiencing a come-back. On the wings of the new institutionalism, there has been increasing attention to the role of culture in explaining economic phenomena. However, it is argued that culture lacks a clear definition, and that the theoretical underpinnings of the current attempts to re-introduce culture into economics are weak. This paper will discuss the problems and possibilities of such integration. Starting point is a historical discussion of the reasons why culture does not already play a role in economics. Once we have thus grasped the problem to its fullest, it is argued that there are three main routes for bringing culture into economics. The first route is through preferences, which the paper holds to be possible but not very illuminating theoretically; the second is through constraints, which seems more promising but suffers from several theoretical failings; and the third is as complementary deviation from the economic model. On basis of a conceptual discussion of what culture means in economics, it is argued that the third route, in spite of possible appearances, actually has the most potential. However, this project does require a move towards a more reflexive methodology. This implies a questioning of definitions of economy and culture, instead of deductive reasoning on basis of pre-given definitions, as neoclassical theory is wont to do. A ‘new cultural economics’, in order to be successful, would end up discussing the field of economics itself, questioning divisions that have set it apart from the other social sciences. Mailing Address: Robbert Maseland, Nijmegen School of Management, University of Nijmegen, PO Box 9108, 6500 HK Nijmegen, The Netherlands; [email protected].