Dionysian Economics
Making Economics a Scientific Social Science

Authors: Benjamin Ward



Nietzsche distinguished between two forces in art: Apollonian, which represents order and reason, and Dionysian, which represents chaos and energy. An ideal work of art combines these two characteristics in a believable, relatable balance. Economists, Ward argues, have operated for too long under the assumption that their work reflects scientific, Apollonian principals when these simply do not or cannot apply: "constants" in economics stand in for variables, mathematical equations represent the simplified ideal rather than the complex reality, and the core scientific principal of replication is all but ignored. In Dionysian Economics, Ward encourages economists to reintegrate the standard rigor of the scientific method into their work while embracing the fact that their prime indicators come from notoriously chaotic and changeable human beings. Rather than emphasizing its shortfalls compared to an extremely Apollonian science, such as physics, economics can aspire to the standards of a science that accounts for considerable Dionysian variation, such as biology. The book proposes that economists get closer to their dynamic objects of study, that they avoid the temptation to wish away dynamic complexity by using simplifying assumptions, and that they recognize the desire to take risks as fundamentally human.

Table of contents (17 chapters)

Front Matter

Economic Theory as Physics
• Front Matter
• Introduction
• Physics and Economics—A Theory Comparo
• Physics and Economics—A Performance Comparo
• Immortal Constants
• Mitigations?
• Back Matter

Branches of Economic Theory—Differential Disappointments
• Front Matter
• General Economic Equilibrium Is Neither
• Macroeconomics: Theorem-Seeking, Forecasting Failure
• Finance: It Works—but How?
• Behavior the Savior?
• Risk Aversion—The Convenience Error
• Uncertainties and Approximations
• Back Matter

What Now?
• Front Matter
• Scientific Demotion
• Human Natures
• A List Frame for Dionysian Economics
• Biology—A Colleague or a Model?
• Subduction and Resurrection
• The Journal of Dionysian Economics
• Back Matter

Back Matter