Abstract
Recurring economic crises, like the one of 2007-2008, led to criticism of economic research and a demand to develop new strategies to avoid them. Standard economic theories use conventional approaches to deal with economic challenges, heterodox theories try to develop alternatives with which to face them. It remains unclear whether the 2007-2008 crisis led to a change in economic research as well as to a consideration of alternative approaches. We used co-word analysis to map the structure of economic research in Germany between 2005 and 2014. Core topics within economic research, such as "market" or "production" hardly shift and can be linked to standard economic theories. Peripheral topics such as "inequality" or "unemployment" show greater dynamics. However, only a few of these topics can be linked to heterodox approaches. Certain changes have occurred in reaction to the 2007-2008 crisis. However, the unchanged importance of standard economic topics raises the question whether these changes are sufficient to face coming economic challenges.
Highlights
In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007, the public and the scientific debate on economics intensified: Economists were blamed for not considering the increasing complexity of reality, and it was maintained that their research practices lacked reflection of normative positions
The public blamed economists for not being able to develop ideas and instruments to harmonize the observed imbalances within the European currency area (e.g. Wolf 2018). These difficulties in managing economic and financial crises threw their abilities to develop effective solutions into question. These developments led to the question whether or not economic scientific disciplines are able to adapt to short- and medium-term changes in economic reality
Our study aims to identify and examine the possible extent of scientific change in economic research topics after the global economic and financial crisis of 2007-2008
Summary
In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007, the public and the scientific debate on economics intensified: Economists were blamed for not considering the increasing complexity of reality, and it was maintained that their research practices lacked reflection of normative positions. The public blamed economists for not being able to develop ideas and instruments to harmonize the observed imbalances within the European currency area (e.g. Wolf 2018). These difficulties in managing economic and financial crises threw their abilities to develop effective solutions into question. These developments led to the question whether or not economic scientific disciplines are able to adapt to short- and medium-term changes in economic reality
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