OK, but consider that among the most important works of economics of the last
century are Mises' article from 1920 on socialist calculation, Lange's
"reply" and Hayek's response, all journal articles, and Coase's paper on the
theory of the firm, perhaps THE most important work in 20th century
economics. Wasn't Arrow and Debreu originally a journal article, too?
Sure, there's also the Theory of the Leisure Calss and the General Theory,
etc. But the point si taht you don't have to writea book to think a
different thought. You just need vision and economy of style,w hich of
coursea re hard commodities to come by.
--jks
In a message dated 00-01-31 19:35:24 EST, you write:
<< The contemporary economics profession emphasizes the journal article as
the vehicle for developing new knowledge claims in economics. In important
and poorly understood respects, this practice has changed the ways in which
knowledge claims are developed. More importantly, it has also affected the
type of knowledge claims that _can_ be developed. This is because the space
limitations imposed by the journal format encourage the adoption of
formalized thinking that economizes on space by making use of conventional
assumptions and frameworks. In doing so, it places a huge handicap on those
trying to develop new visions that embody both new sets of assumptions and
new sets of economic relations. This is because such projects require
enormously more space in which to justify assumptions, and to develop the
particulars governing the framework of analysis. Contrastingly, scholarship
that proceeds within the convention is free of these burdens, since the
underlying assumptions and framework are taken for granted. >>
