Institute for Heterodox Economics
Where you can find us:
Welthandelsplatz 1/ Building D4/ 2nd floor
1020 Vienna
Contact:
Tel.: +43-1/31336-4515
Fax: +43-1/31336-904515
Email
Mission Statement
The members of the institute critically examine the dominant strands of the discipline of economics and develop alternatives on a conceptual and methodological level. The work of the Institute for Heterodox Economics develops diverse explanations of economic processes and outcomes, with the starting point that processes are not assumed to be based exclusively on individual rational behavior. Instead, we study the determinants of economic behavior and how actions can be explained by institutions and/or culture. We deal with these neglected aspects of economic life from the perspective of political economy, seen in terms of the inseparable interaction of political, social, historical, cultural, and economic components.
In our understanding, "Heterodox Economics" comprises
engagement with real world phenomena, adapting an historical, environmental, and regional perspective
an explicit claim to positively influence economic life and economic policy
inter- and trans-disciplinarity and methodological pluralism
questioning the epistemes in economics and its research methods, including a critical examination of the mainstream
an important addition to typically narrowly focused economic curricula
The members of the institute perform research in various areas:
Critical economic policy: analysis and evaluation of policies and economic power
Institutional economics: constitutive role of norms, values, and habitual behavior; central role of institutions for the economy
(Applied) feminist economics: unpaid labor, gender budgeting, policy evaluation; feminist-economic theory of science
Economic inequality from a heterodox perspective: educational inequality, wealth inequality, information inequality; inequality of opportunity
Political economy of media: media representation of economic inequality and redistributive measures, media ownership and concentration in media markets; role and function of media in the economy
Epistemes of economics: epistemological presuppositions and basic assumptions in economics; images of human beings in economics; explanatory power of economic models
Emphasis in Teaching
In teaching, a practical approach is used to make the theories of institutional and evolutionary economics, alternative political economy, history of economic thought, political economy of the media, sustainable development, feminist economics, globalization, and epistemics accessible to students.
