Key research themes
1. How do cognitive and cultural factors shape popular economic ideologies despite conflicts with formal economic theory?
This research area investigates the emergence and persistence of 'folk-economic beliefs'—explicit economic notions held by laypeople outside formal economic training—and how these beliefs influence political attitudes and policy preferences. It challenges the dominant view that such beliefs stem primarily from ignorance or bias, proposing instead that evolved cognitive mechanisms and culturally transmitted mental models systematically shape the contents of popular economic ideologies.
2. What are the philosophical and methodological critiques of mainstream economic naturalism and their implications for economic ideologies?
This theme explores critical perspectives on mainstream economics' ontological assumptions, particularly critiques of its naturalistic and value-free claims. It examines alternative frameworks inspired by pragmatism, institutionalism, and constructivism, which emphasize the human-dependent constitution of economic reality, the inseparability of normative and descriptive aspects, and the socially embedded nature of economic phenomena. These critiques question the ideological underpinnings of treating markets and capitalism as quasi-natural phenomena and advocate for more contextually grounded, interpretive approaches.
3. How do political ideologies shape and integrate economic ideas within broader social and cultural contexts?
This theme examines the interaction and mutual constitution of economic ideas and political ideologies, including how economic doctrines are articulated within particular political and cultural narratives. It investigates ideologies ranging from socialism in practice (e.g., Cuban socialism), to dominant globalist political ideologies, to critiques of economic fundamentalism, and considers how ideological formations embed economic thought within identities, institutions, and power relations.