ABSTRACT
There are plenty of interesting ideas in Lawson’s book about how economic theory and practice need to be “reoriented”. I agree with him that economics must start from observation of the world where we live. I must say, however, that I do not see why Lawson needs the special word “ontology” to designate an “enquiry into (or a theory of) the nature of being or existence” (p. xv). Nor am I convinced by his “evolutionary explanation” – in Darwinian terms – of the “mathematising tendency” in economics (Chapter 10).1 But I do not want to discuss these complex subjects here. I am only going to consider Lawson’s main criticism of neoclassical economics: its “lack of realism”. I think that it is not the appropriate objection: all theories lack realism, as they take into consideration only some aspects of reality. Everyone agrees on this, even neoclassical economists. The real problem with neoclassical theory is not its “lack of realism” but the “ideology” (a word Lawson never uses) that it smuggles in and carries with it.
