Defining economic pluralism: ethical norm or scientific imperative

Abstract

The state of contemporary economics has been a subject of discussion even before the most recent global financial crisis. The discipline's one-sidedness has frequently been lamented and frequent calls have been made for its pluralisation. Nevertheless, there is neither a consensus over the form of pluralism that is required (whether theoretical, methodological, or paradigmatic pluralism, for example), nor agreement among economists over the underlying diagnosis of a lack of pluralism. Even the justification for this pluralistic norm - i.e., whether it should be seen in terms of an ethics of fairness and tolerance or as the imperative of academic freedom - remains disputed and is often unclear. This paper aims to shed some light on these ambiguities.