A STUDY ON THE PROBLEM OF FORMALISM IN ECONOMICS

Abstract

One of the main characteristics of the contemporary economic theory is its formalist perspective. Formalism, whose foundations trace back to 1950s, started to dominate economics in 1980s. Formalism debate in economics generally focuses on the relationship between formal models and economic reality. The primary criticism against formalism, which shapes modern mainstream economics and determines its boundaries, is that it pushes economics in an abstract viewpoint which is ignorant of the real world. The increasing impression of postmodernism in the area of economic methodology is taken as a striking feature of the growing hegemony of formalism in economics. The objective of this study is to deal with the economics and formalism relationship from the contextual and historical perspective. In this framework, the study aims to address the problems created by formalism in economics and to shed light on the discussions about such problems.

Keywords

• Economics, Formalism, Methodology of Economics, Postmodernism.

İKTİSATTA FORMALİZM SORUNU ÜZERİNE BİR İNCELEME

Öz

Çağdaş iktisat teorisinin temel karakteristiklerinden biri formalist bakış açısıdır. Temelleri 1950’lere dayanan formalizm 1980’lerde iktisada egemen olmaya başlamıştır. İktisattaki formalizm tartışmaları genellikle formel modellerle iktisadi realite arasındaki ilişkiye odaklanmaktadır. Modern ana-akım iktisadı biçimlendiren ve sınırlarını belirleyen formalizmin iktisadı gerçek dünyaya karşı kayıtsız ve soyut bir bakış açısına ittiği en temel eleştirilerden biridir. İktisat metodolojisi alanında postmodernizmin izlerinin artması da formalizmin hegemonyasının modern iktisatta giderek büyümesinin çarpıcı etkilerinden biri olarak kabul edilmektedir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, kavramsal ve tarihsel açıdan iktisat ve formalizm ilişkisini ele almaktır. Bu çerçevede çalışma, formalizmin iktisatta yarattığı sorunlar üzerinde durarak söz konusu sorunlara yönelik tartışmalara ışık tutmayı hedeflemektedi

Anahtar Kelimeler

• İktisat, Formalizm, İktisat Metodolojisi, Postmodernizm.

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