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Economy as a Social System: N iklas L uhmann's Contribution and its Significance for Economics
Author(s) -
Boldyrev Ivan A.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
american journal of economics and sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1536-7150
pISSN - 0002-9246
DOI - 10.1111/ajes.12013
Subject(s) - heuristics , ontology , context (archaeology) , economics , rationality , economy , computer science , epistemology , philosophy , biology , operating system , paleontology
N iklas L uhmann's (1927–1998) ambitious research project was aimed not only at describing society as a global social system, but it also analyzed various subsystems (including an economic one). The article assesses L uhmann's vision of the economy, summarized mainly in his Wirtschaft der Gesellschaft , wherein he addresses basic economic notions: the economic system, money, prices, rationality, and the market. I then interpret his ideas in the context of modern discussions in economics (intersubjective structures, complex systems, and evolutionary modeling). I also propose some heuristics implied by L uhmann's economic ontology, which are potentially interesting for methodological and theoretical strategies of modern economics.