Uskali Mäki 

Research interests and publications

I have been active in a few areas that are interrelated in many ways. The classes in the following classification therefore partly overlap.

General on the methodology and philosophy of economics

• Mäki, Uskali and Jorma Sappinen (2011) "Homo economicus ja marginalismin perintö" (Homo economicus and the legacy of marginalism), in Talous ja yhteiskuntateoria (Economy and Social Theory), ed. R. Heiskala and A. Virtanen. Helsinki: Gaudeamus 2011. Pp. 291-321. (In Finnish)
• "Realism from the ‘lands of Kaleva’: an interview with Uskali Mäki", Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics, Volume 1, Issue 1, Autumn 2008, pp. 124-146.
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• Mäki, Uskali (2008): "Method and appraisal in economics: 1976-2006", Journal of Economic Methodology, vol. 15, no. 4, 409-423
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• Mäki, Uskali (2008) “Philosophy of economics” in Routledge Companion to the
  Philosophy of Science, edited by Martin Curd and Stathis Psillos. Routledge.
  [Download PDF]
• “The dismal queen of the social sciences”, in Fact and Fiction in Economics. Realism, Models, and Social Construction, ed. U. Mäki. Cambridge University Press, 2002, 3-34.
• "Two portraits of economics", Journal of Economic Methodology, 3, June 1996, 1-38.
  [This is a reconstructive and critical commentary of the philosophical accounts of economics offered by Dan Hausman and Alex Rosenberg.]
  [Download PDF]
  
• "Methodology might matter, but Weintraub's meta-Methodology shouldn't", Journal of Economic Methodology, Vol 1, 1994, pp. 215-231. [Reprinted in Recent Developments in Economic Methodology, ed. J. Davis. Elgar]
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• "Methodology of economics: Complaints and guidelines", Finnish Economic Papers, Vol. 3, 1990, pp. 77-84.

• “My philosophy of economics: formation and structure”, for Handbook of the Philosophy of Economics, ed. Harold Kincaid and Don Ross. Oxford UP. In preparation.
  

Unrealistic assumptions

The issue of unrealisticness has become a life-long obsession since my undergraduate studies of economics. I have identified a number of ways in which a representation may be unrealistic (and realistic) as this has important consequences for how we should judge them. I have paid special attention to the functions that unrealistic assumptions serve within models and explanations, since this too should have important consequences for our assessments. There is more under “The methodology of positive economics”.

• Mäki, Uskali: "The truth of false idealizations in modelling”, to appear in Representations, Models and Simulations, edited by Paul Humphreys and Cyrille Imbert.
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• “Some truths about truth for economists, their critics and clients”, in Economic Policy-Making under Uncertainty: The Role of Truth and Accountability in Policy Advice, ed. P. Mooslechner, H. Schuberth, and M. Schurtz. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar 2004. Pp. 9-39.
• "Theoretical isolation and explanatory progress: Transaction cost economics and the dynamics of dispute", Cambridge Journal of Economics, 28 (3), May 2004, 319-346.
  http://cje.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/full/28/3/319?ijkey=/ZD6QGRMOp6jU&keytype=ref&siteid=cameco
• "Kinds of assumptions and their truth: Shaking an untwisted F-twist", Kyklos, 53, 3/2000, 303-322.
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• “Representation repressed: Two kinds of semantic scepticism in economics”, in Incommensurability and Translation. Kuhnian Perspectives on Scientific Communication and Theory Change. Edited by R. Scazzieri, R. Rossini Favretti, and G. Sandri. Edward Elgar 1999. Pp. 307-321.
• "As if" in The Handbook of Economic Methodology, ed. J. Davis, W. Hands and U. Mäki. Edward Elgar 1998. Pp. 25-27.
• "Ceteris paribus" in The Handbook of Economic Methodology, ed. J. Davis, W. Hands and U. Mäki. Edward Elgar 1998. Pp. 55-59. (Co-authored with Jukka-Pekka Piimies)
• "Realisticness" in The Handbook of Economic Methodology, ed. J. Davis, W. Hands and U. Mäki. Edward Elgar 1998. Pp. 409-413.
• "Reorienting the assumptions issue", in New Directions in Economic Methodology, edited by Roger Backhouse. London: Routledge, 1994. Pp. 236-256.
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• "Isolation, idealization and truth in economics", Idealization in Economics, edited by Bert Hamminga and Neil de Marchi, special issue of Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, 38, 1994, pp. 147-168.
• "On the method of isolation in economics", Idealization IV: Intelligibility in Science, edited by Craig Dilworth, special issue of Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, Vol. 26, 1992, pp. 319-354. [Reprinted in Recent Developments in Economic Methodology, ed. J. Davis. Elgar]
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• "Comment on Hands", in Appraising Economic Theories: Studies in the Methodology of Research Programmes, edited by Neil de Marchi and Mark Blaug. Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 1991. Pp. 85-90
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Realism and antirealism

My philosophical intuitions are uncompromisingly realist, but I have pursued a middle of the road line of accommodating, in my conception of scientific realism, a number of apparently antirealist ideas (such as those related to social constructivism, relativism, error, and deliberate falsehood in scientific theories). I have also sought to distinguish between numerous different kinds of realism so as to help clarify the issues in the ongoing debates. The project is one of local scientific realism that proceeds in a bottom-up manner and is sensitive to the peculiarities of particular scientific disciplines.

• Mäki, Uskali (2011) "Scientific realism and some Russia", in Social Theory and Russia. Forthcoming.
• Mäki, Uskali (2011) "Puzzled by realism: A response to Deichsel", Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics, Volume 4, Issue 1, 42-52 [http://ejpe.org/pdf/4-1-art-3.pdf]
• Mäki, Uskali (2011) "Scientific realism as a challenge to economics (and vice versa)" Journal of Economic Methodology, 18, No. 1, 1–12.
• Mäki, Uskali (2008) “Realism and ontology” in The New Palgrave Dictionary of
  Economics, 2nd edition. Macmillan.
  [Download PDF]
• Mäki, Uskali (2008) "Putnam's realisms: A view from the social sciences", in Approaching Truth. Essays in Honour of Ilkka Niiniluoto, ed. S. Pihlström, P. Raatikainen, M. Sintonen. College Publications 2008. Pp. 295-306.
  [Download PDF]
• “Reglobalising realism by going local, or (how) should our formulations of scientific realism be informed about the sciences” Erkenntnis, 63 (2005), 231-251.
• "Realism and the nature of theory: A lesson from J.H. von Thünen for economists and geographers", Environment and Planning A, 36 (2004), 1719-1736.
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• "The narrow notion of realism in human geography", Environment and Planning A, 36 (2004), 1755-1776 (with Päivi Oinas)
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• “The archaelogical construction of the past: Some realist moderations”, in Realism in Action. Essays in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences. Edited by M. Sintonen, P. Ylikoski, K. Miller. Dordrecht: Reidel, 2003. Pp. 51-68.
• “Some non-reasons for non-realism about economics”, in Fact and Fiction in Economics. Realism, Models, and Social Construction, ed. U. Mäki. Cambridge University Press, 2002, 90-104.
• "On the issue of realism in the economics of institutional organization: Themes from Coase and Richardson", in Beyond Keynes, Volume One. Post-Keynesian Econometrics, Microeconomics and the Theory of the Firm. Edited by S. Dow and J. Hillard. Edward Elgar, 2002, 30-43.
• "Realisms and their opponents", in International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. (Volume 19, pp. 12815-12821). Elsevier 2001.
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• “Reclaiming relevant realism”, Journal of Economic Methodology, 7, No 1, March 2000, 109-125.
• "Is Coase a realist?", Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 28, 1998, 5-31.
• “Aspects of realism about economics”, Theoria, 13, 1998, 301-319. [Reprinted in Recent Developments in Economic Methodology, ed. J. Davis. Elgar]
• "Instrumentalism" in The Handbook of Economic Methodology, ed. J. Davis, W. Hands and U. Mäki. Edward Elgar 1998. Pp. 253-256.
• "Realism" in The Handbook of Economic Methodology, ed. J. Davis, W. Hands and U. Mäki. Edward Elgar 1998. Pp. 404-409.
• "Scientific realism and some peculiarities of economics", in Realism and Anti-Realism in the Philosophy of Science, ed. R.S. Cohen et al. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 169. Dordrecht: Kluwer 1996, 425-445.
• "Friedman and realism", Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 10, 1992, pp. 171-195.
• "Mengerian economics in realist perspective", History of Political Economy, Annual Supplement to Vol. 22, 1990, pp. 289-310.
• "On the problem of realism in economics", Ricerche Economiche, Vol. 43, 1989, pp. 176-198. [Reprinted in The Philosophy and Methodology of Economics, edited by Bruce Caldwell. Edward Elgar.]
• "Wissenschaftliche Realismus: Kontroversen und Konvergenzen" ["Scientific realism: Controversies and convergencies", in German], in Realismus und Dialektik, ed. H.-J. Sandkühler and J. Manninen. Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 1984. Pp. 53-59.
• "How does scientific realism manage as a metatheory of management research?", in Methodology of Management and Business Research. Helsinki School of Economics, 1983. Pp. 257-264.
• Mäki, Uskali (2008) “Realism and ontology” in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd edition. Macmillan.
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• “Realist and antirealist philosophies of economics” for Handbook of the Philosophy of Economics. Ed U. Mäki. Elsevier. In preparation.
  
  

Theories and models, idealization and isolation

I believe the key to acquiring enlightened opinions about the issue of unrealisticness is to take the difficult task of trying to understand what scientific theories and models are, and what roles their various components play in their overall structure. I have entertained the idea of theories and models being isolations (akin to experimental isolations) effected by idealizing assumptions.

• Mäki, Uskali: "Models and truth. The functional decomposition approach", forthcoming in
  European Philosophy of Science 2007. Springer 2009
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• Mäki, Uskali (2011) "Models and the locus of their truth", Synthese, 180, 47-63.
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• Mäki, Uskali (2009): "MISSing the world: Models as isolations and credible
  surrogate systems", Erkenntnis, vol. 70, no.1, 29-43
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• “Remarks on models and their truth”, Storia del Pensiero Economico, 3 (1/2006), 7-19.
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• “Models are experiments, experiments are models”, Journal of Economic Methodology, 12 (2005), 303-315.
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• “Some truths about truth for economists, their critics and clients”, in Economic Policy-Making under Uncertainty: The Role of Truth and Accountability in Policy Advice, ed. P. Mooslechner, H. Schuberth, and M. Schurtz. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Pp. 9-39.
• "Ceteris paribus: Interpretaciones e implicaciones”, Revista Asturiana de Economia, 28 (2003), 7-32.
• “Models”, in International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. (Volume 15, pp. 9931-9937). Elsevier 2001.
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• "Against Posner against Coase against theory", Cambridge Journal of Economics, 22, 1998, 587-595.
• “Separateness, inexactness, and economic method”, Journal of Economic Methodology, 5, 1998, 147-154.
• "As if" in The Handbook of Economic Methodology, ed. J. Davis, W. Hands and U. Mäki. Edward Elgar 1998. Pp. 25-27.
• "Ceteris paribus" in The Handbook of Economic Methodology, ed. J. Davis, W. Hands and U. Mäki. Edward Elgar 1998. Pp. 55-59. (Co-authored with Jukka-Pekka Piimies)
• "Two portraits of economics", Journal of Economic Methodology, 3, June 1996, 1-38.
  [Download PDF]
• "Isolation, idealization and truth in economics", Idealization in Economics, edited by Bert Hamminga and Neil de Marchi, special issue of Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, 38, 1994, pp. 147-168.
• "On the method of isolation in economics", Idealization IV: Intelligibility in Science, edited by Craig Dilworth, special issue of Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, Vol. 26, 1992, pp. 319-354. [Reprinted in Recent Developments in Economic Methodology, ed. J. Davis. Elgar]
  [Download PDF]
• "Ceteris paribus: Interpretations and Implications" [Versions presented at the American Economic Association Meeting in Washington DC, January 1995; at the Tinbergen Institute, November 1995; at the University of Munich, July 2001]
• “Modelling as experimentation: The case of economics” [Presented at conference on Thought Experiments, University of Ghent, 2004]
  

Intertheoretic and interdisciplinary relations, explanatory unification, intellectual imperialism and pluralism

A large variety of theories about same phenomena abounds in economics and other social sciences, but it is often unclear how precisely they relate to one another. I have outlined a pluralism that distinguishes between cases where theories are rivals and those where they complement one another. I have examined the pursuit of explanatory unification within economics, and its interdisciplinary extension, so-called economics imperialism. This is now one of my major projects.

• Mäki, Uskali & Marchionni, Caterina (Forthcoming): "Is geographical economics imperializing economic geography?" Forthcoming in the Journal of Economic Geography.
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• Mäki, Uskali: “When economics meets neuroscience: Hype and Hope”, forthcoming in Journal of Economic Methodology.
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• Mäki, Uskali and Caterina Marchionni (2009): “On the structure of explanatory unification: The case of geographical economics”, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 40, 2/2009, 185–195.
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• Mäki, Uskali (2009):“Economics imperialism: Concept and constraints”, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 39 (3), September 2009, 351-380.
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• "Theoretical isolation and explanatory progress: Transaction cost economics and the dynamics of dispute", Cambridge Journal of Economics, 28 (3), May 2004, 319-346.
  http://cje.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/full/28/3/319?ijkey=/ZD6QGRMOp6jU&keytype=ref&siteid=cameco
• “Explanatory ecumenism and economics imperialism”, Economics and Philosophy, 18, 2002, 237-259.
• “Explanatory unification: Double and doubtful”, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 31, 4/2001, 488-506.
• “Imperialismo da Economia: conceitos e restrições”, Economica, 2, 3/2000, 5-36. (Portuguese translation in a Brazilian journal of “Economics imperialism: Concept and constraints”)
• "The one world and the many theories", in Pluralism in Economics, edited by Andrea Salanti and Ernesto Screpanti. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 1997. Pp. 37-47.
  Reprinted in A Modern Reader in Institutional and Evolutionary Economics: Key Concepts, edited by Geoffrey Hodgson. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar 2002. Pp. 124-135.
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• “Explanatory Pluralism: Reasons and restraints” for Pluralism in Economics
• “Explanatory unification and economics imperialism” for Handbook of the Philosophy of Economics. Ed U. Mäki. Elsevier.
  

Methodology of positive economics, Milton Friedman’s 1953

For more than twenty years, I have argued that the very notions of “the methodology of positive economics” and “Milton Friedman’s methodological position” are ill-defined. No coherent and unambiguous formulations are available. Friedman’s 1953 essay had better be interpreted as a realist statement (in contrast to the received instrumentalist interpretation).

• The Methodology of Positive Economics. Reflections on the Milton Friedman Legacy. Cambridge University Press. Editor. 2009

• "Reading the methodological essay in twentieth century economics: Map of multiple perspectives", The Methodology of Positive Economics. Reflections on the Milton Friedman Legacy. Cambridge University Press, 2009.
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• "Unrealistic assumptions and unnecessary confusions: Rereading and rewriting F53 as a realist statement", The Methodology of Positive Economics. Reflections on the Milton Friedman Legacy. Cambridge University Press, 2009.
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• “’The Methodology of Positive Economics’ (1953) does not give us the methodology of positive economics”, Journal of Economic Methodology, 10, 4/2003, 495-505.
• "Friedman and realism", Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 10, 1992, pp. 171-195.
• "Rhetoric at the expense of coherence: a reinterpretation of Milton Friedman's methodology", Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 4,1986, pp. 127-143.
• "Keskustelu Milton Friedmanin metodologiasta: opetuksia ja ongelmia" ["The discussion on Friedman's methodology: Results and problems", in Finnish], Taloustieteellisen seuran vuosikirja 1983/84, pp. 237-251.
• "Positiivisen taloustieteen metodologia modernin tieteenfilosofian valossa" ["The methodology of positive economics in the light of modern philosophy of science", in Finnish], Taloustieteellisen seuran vuosikirja 1981/82, pp. 157-182.
  

Rhetoric of inquiry

Since the mid-1980s or so, I have played the role of a sympathetic critic of the rhetoric of economics project by Deirdre McCloskey and Arjo Klamer. This has given rise to a series of friendly confrontations and attempted clarifications. The focus of my interventions thus far has been on the philosophical presuppositions and implications of the acknowledgement that science is rhetorical. I have developed the view that rhetoric is compatible with realism: realist rhetoric and rhetorical realism are sensible options.

• "Performance against dialogue, or answering and really answering: A participant observer’s reflections on the McCloskey conversation", Journal of Economic Issues, 34, No 1, March 2000, 43-59.
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• "Diagnosing McCloskey", Journal of Economic Literature, 33, September 1995, 1300-1318. [Reprinted in Recent Developments in Economic Methodology, ed. J. Davis. Elgar]
• “Some truths about truth for economists, their critics and clients”, in Economic Policy-Making under Uncertainty: The Role of Truth and Accountability in Policy Advice, ed. P. Mooslechner, H. Schuberth, and M. Schurtz. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Pp. 9-39.
• “The archaelogical construction of the past: Some realist moderations”, in Realism in Action. Essays in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences. Edited by M. Sintonen, P. Ylikoski, K. Miller. Dordrecht: Reidel, 2003. Pp. 51-68.
• “Some non-reasons for non-realism about economics”, in Fact and Fiction in Economics. Realism, Models, and Social Construction, ed. U. Mäki. Cambridge University Press, 2002, 90-104.
• “Representation repressed: Two kinds of semantic scepticism in economics”, in Incommensurability and Translation. Kuhnian Perspectives on Scientific Communication and Theory Change. Edited by R. Scazzieri, R. Rossini Favretti, and G. Sandri. Edward Elgar 1999. Pp. 307-321.
• “Aspects of realism about economics”, Theoria, 13, 1998, 301-319. [Reprinted in Recent Developments in Economic Methodology, ed. J. Davis. Elgar]
• “Science, pseudoscience and antiscience”, in Die zerrissene Gesellschaft. Europäisches Forum Alpbach 1998. Herausgegeben von H. Pfusterschmid-Hardtenstein. Wien: Ibera Verlag. Pp. 50-53.
• "Two philosophies of the rhetoric of economics", in Economics and Language, edited by Willie Henderson, Tony Dudley-Evans, and Roger Backhouse. London: Routledge, 1993. Pp. 23-50.
• "Social theories of science and the fate of institutionalism in economics", in Rationality, Institutions and Economic Methodology, edited by Uskali Mäki, Bo Gustafsson and Christian Knudsen. London: Routledge, 1993. Pp. 76-109 [esp. pages 92-100].
• "How to combine rhetoric and realism in the methodology of economics", Economics and Philosophy, Vol. 4, 1988, pp. 89-109. [Reprinted in The Philosophy and Methodology of Economics, edited by Bruce Caldwell. Edward Elgar.]
• "Rhetoric, economics, and realism: A rejoinder to McCloskey", Economics and Philosophy, Vol. 4, 1988, pp. 167-169.
• "Talouspolitiikan retoriikka" ["The rhetoric of economic policy", in Finnish, co-authored by Juhana Vartiainen], in On se niin väärin. Tutkijaliitto, 1989. Pp. 78-94.
• "Rhetoric at the expense of coherence: a reinterpretation of Milton Friedman's methodology", Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 4,1986, pp. 127-143.
• “Deglobalizing the rhetoric of economics" [version presented at a symposium on "Economics as a Science" at Erasmus University Rotterdam, 6 June, 1997]
  

Social studies of science, SSK and economics of economics

Here I am inclined to think of myself as a bridge between Bob Coats and Wade Hands, as it were. Coats was a pioneer who was active in employing sociological perspectives to economics before I wrote my early papers. The 1992 paper was written in 1989 and presented and circulated before publication. Hands then followed up, expanded considerably, made valuable further progress and was joined by others. My own contributions have focused on classifying ways in which aspects of science may be social; on accommodating SSK insights in a basically realist outlook; on economics as a resource in science studies; and on reflexivity issues in what I started calling the economics of economics.

• “Economic epistemology: Hopes and horrors”, Episteme. A Journal of Social Epistemology, 1, 3/2005, 211-220.
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• “The archaelogical construction of the past: Some realist moderations”, in Realism in Action. Essays in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences. Edited by M. Sintonen, P. Ylikoski, K. Miller. Dordrecht: Reidel, 2003. Pp. 51-68.
• "Science as a free market: A reflexivity test in an economics of economics", Perspectives on Science, 7, 4/1999, 486-509. [Reprinted in Recent Developments in Economic Methodology, ed. J. Davis. Elgar]
• "The problem of social Coase: Between regulation and free market in economic methodology", in Coasean Economics, edited by Steven Medema. Boston: Kluwer, 1998. Pp. 249-269.
• "Economic thought in an intellectual periphery: Towards a historiographical framework", Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, 14, 1996, 309-325.
• "Social theories of science and the fate of institutionalism in economics", in Rationality, Institutions and Economic Methodology, edited by Uskali Mäki, Bo Gustafsson and Christian Knudsen. London: Routledge, 1993. Pp. 76-109.
• "Economics with institutions: Agenda for methodological inquiry", in Rationality, Institutions and Economic Methodology, edited by Uskali Mäki, Bo Gustafsson and Christian Knudsen. London: Routledge, 1993. Pp. 3-42.
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• "Social conditioning of economics", in Post-Popperian Methodology of Economics, edited by Neil de Marchi. Kluwer Publishers, 1992. Pp. 65-104.
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Ontology of social institutions, economic ontology, causal process and mechanism

Over the years, I have taught courses on social ontology and on causal explanation. Among the issues that have concerned me and on which I have published are the objectivity of social reality (given that it is mind-dependent); the dependence of social sciences on a commonsense ontology (dealing with what I have called “commonsensibles”); the ontology of money as a social institution; the role of causal powers in economic ontology; the nature and role of causal mechanisms and processes in economic explanation and theory assessment.

• Mäki, Uskali (2008) “Realism and ontology” in The New Palgrave Dictionary of
  Economics, 2nd edition. Macmillan.
  [Download PDF]
• Mäki, Uskali (2008) "Putnam's realisms: A view from the social sciences", in Approaching Truth. Essays in Honour of Ilkka Niiniluoto, ed. S. Pihlström, P. Raatikainen, M. Sintonen. College Publications 2008. Pp. 295-306.
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• “Economic ontology: What? Why? How?”, in The Economic World View. Studies in the Ontology of Economics, ed. U. Mäki. Cambridge University Press, 2001. P. 3-14.
• “The way the world works (www): Towards an ontology of theory choice”, in The Economic World View. Studies in the Ontology of Economics, ed. U. Mäki. Cambridge University Press, 2001. Pp. 369-389.
• “Reglobalising realism by going local, or (how) should our formulations of scientific realism be informed about the sciences?” Erkenntnis 2005
• "Mechanisms, models, and free riders", in Economics and Methodology. Crossing the Boundaries, edited by Roger Backhouse, Daniel Hausman, Uskali Mäki, and Andrea Salanti. Macmillan, 1998. Pp. 98-112
• “Aspects of realism about economics”, Theoria, 13, 1998, 301-319. [Reprinted in Recent Developments in Economic Methodology, ed. J. Davis. Elgar]
  
• "Scientific realism and some peculiarities of economics", in Realism and Anti-Realism in the Philosophy of Science, ed. R.S. Cohen et al. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 169. Dordrecht: Kluwer 1996, 425-445.
• "Two portraits of economics", Journal of Economic Methodology, 3, June 1996, 1-38.
  [Download PDF]
• "Economics with institutions: Agenda for methodological inquiry", in Rationality, Institutions and Economic Methodology, edited by Uskali Mäki, Bo Gustafsson and Christian Knudsen. London: Routledge, 1993. Pp. 3-42.
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• "The market as an isolated causal process: A metaphysical ground for realism", in Austrian Economics: Tensions and New Developments, edited by Bruce Caldwell and Stephan Boehm. Kluwer Publishers, 1992. Pp. 35-59.
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• "Practical syllogism, entrepreneurship, and the invisible hand: A critique of the analytic hermeneutics of G.H. von Wright", in Economics and Hermeneutics, edited by Don Lavoie. Routledge, 1991. Pp. 149-176.
  [Download PDF]
• "On the method of isolation in economics", Idealization IV: Intelligibility in Science, edited by Craig Dilworth, special issue of Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, Vol. 26, 1992, pp. 319-354. [Reprinted in Recent Developments in Economic Methodology, ed. J. Davis. Elgar]
  [Download PDF]
• “Reflections on the ontology of money” [presented at a workshop on The History and Philosophy of Money, University of British Columbia, Vancouver 2004; and at the annula conference of the International Society of New Institutional Economics, Barcelona 2005]

Foundations of new institutional economics

The new institutional economics has been active in methodological reflection. I have examined the theoretical and metatheoretical moves by Coase and Williamson as they have a lot to contribute to our understanding of how economics is being done in general. The issues include those of the relaxation of assumptions and thereby opening up of black boxes, criticism of “blackboard economics”, use of case studies, explanatory unification, and the use of economics beyond its traditional boundaries.

• "Theoretical isolation and explanatory progress: Transaction cost economics and the dynamics of dispute", Cambridge Journal of Economics, 28 (3), May 2004, 319-346.
  http://cje.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/full/28/3/319?ijkey=/ZD6QGRMOp6jU&keytype=ref&siteid=cameco
• "Science as a free market: A reflexivity test in an economics of economics", Perspectives on Science, 7, 4/1999, 486-509. [Reprinted in Recent Developments in Economic Methodology, ed. J. Davis. Elgar]
• "Is Coase a realist?", Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 28, 1998, 5-31.
• "Against Posner against Coase against theory", Cambridge Journal of Economics, 22, 1998, 587-595.
• "The problem of social Coase: Between regulation and free market in economic methodology", in Coasean Economics, edited by Steven Medema. Boston: Kluwer, 1998. Pp. 249-269.
• "R.H. Coase" in The Handbook of Economic Methodology, ed. J. Davis, W. Hands and U. Mäki. Edward Elgar 1998. Pp. 64-67.
  

Foundations of Austrian economics

Austrian economics is one of the most self-reflective traditions in economics. Most of its leading members have made major contributions to methodological and philosophical inquiry within and about economics. Among other things, I have looked at Menger’s views in connection to the Methodenstreit, and at the theories of money, market process and entrepreneurship. I have offered exegetical interpretations as well as introduced ideas and tools from contemporary philosophy of science so as to update the philosophical accounts of Austrian economics.

• "Universals and the Methodenstreit: A reexamination of Carl Menger's conception of economics as an exact science", Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 28, 1997, 475-495.
• "The market as an isolated causal process: A metaphysical ground for realism", in Austrian Economics: Tensions and New Developments, edited by Bruce Caldwell and Stephan Boehm. Kluwer Publishers, 1992. Pp. 35-59.
  [Download PDF]
• "Practical syllogism, entrepreneurship, and the invisible hand: A critique of the analytic hermeneutics of G.H. von Wright", in Economics and Hermeneutics, edited by Don Lavoie. Routledge, 1991. Pp. 149-176.
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• "Scientific realism and Austrian explanation", Review of Political Economy, Vol. 2, 1990, pp. 310-344.
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• "Mengerian economics in realist perspective", History of Political Economy, Annual Supplement to Vol. 22, 1990, pp. 289-310.
  

Edited works

I have done my share of editorial work (next to organising conferences and workshops). Together with Roger Backhouse, Kevin Hoover and Mark Blaug, I was an editor of the Journal of Economic Methodology (1996-2005), and I have edited or co-edited a few volumes on economic methodology and the philosophy of economics.

• The Methodology of Positive Economics. Reflections on the Milton Friedman Legacy. Edited by Uskali Mäki. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 382pp.
• Fact and Fiction in Economics. Realism, Models, and Social Construction. Edited by Uskali Mäki. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2002. 384 pp.
  [Chinese translation forthcoming]
• The Economic World View. Studies in the Ontology of Economics. Edited by Uskali Mäki. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2001. 400 pp.
• The Handbook of Economic Methodology. Edited by John B. Davis, D. Wade Hands, and Uskali Mäki. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar 1998. 572 pp.
• Economics and Methodology. Crossing Boundaries. Edited by Roger Backhouse, Daniel Hausman, Uskali Mäki, and Andrea Salanti. Houndmills: Macmillan 1998. 466 pp.
• The Metaphysics of Economics, special issue of The Monist. An International Journal of General Philosophical Inquiry; Advisory Editor. July 1995., Volume 78, Number 3. Pp. 235-385.
• Rationality, Institutions and Economic Methodology, edited by Uskali Mäki, Bo Gustafsson and Christian Knudsen. London: Routledge 1993. 312 pp.
• Handbook of the Philosophy of Economics. Elsevier. Editor. [For the series of 16 volumes of Handbooks in the philosophy of science. General Editors: Dov Gabbay,
  Paul Thagard, John Woods. [http://people.uleth.ca/~woods/HPS_WP/hps.html]
  In progress.