ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the issue of whether critical realism has the potential to make a contribution to the discipline of economics.1 Appraisals of the impact of critical realism on particular disciplines often focus on the extent to which the critical realist account of socio-economic reality might usefully augment existing approaches, for example, by drawing attention to hitherto ignored but potentially explanatorily significant aspects of the socio-economic world.2 In this respect, critical realism in economics is no exception. Critical realists working in economics have emphasised the significance of ontological issues for economic analysis, arguing that the adoption of a metaphysics that does justice to the richness and complexity of socio-economic life is of paramount importance for the future health of the discipline (Lawson 1997).3
