Philosophy and Economics (Research Master)

Institutions: Erasmus Research Master in Philosophy and Economics is an intensive and internationally recognised two-year programme open to outstanding students with a BA degree in either Philosophy or Economics. Highly qualified students who already have an MA degree in Philosophy or Economics are offered a tailor-made shortened programme. The Research Master builds on an internationally recognised line of research and teaching in Philosophy and Economics at the Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics (EIPE), in the Faculty of Philosophy of Erasmus University Rotterdam. The Research Master is an excellent preparation for an academic career in the growing field of Philosophy and Economics, including for example a subsequent Ph.D project at EIPE, or elsewhere.

The Erasmus Research Master in Philosophy and Economics is open to excellent and highly motivated students with a Bachelor?s degree in philosophy, economics, or philosophy of economics. The Research Master programme is also open to candidates who already have a Master's degree in philosophy, economics or the philosophy of economics. Depending on their area of specialisation, sufficiently qualified students may be exempted from doing specific parts of the programme (with the maximum exemptions such an accelerated programme may be completed within one year).

Arrangements for part-time study are also possible, on a case-by-case basis. Individual courses are also available to external students as guests of the Faculty of Philosophy.

There are four broad overlapping themes within the programme:

Theme A. Economics of Institutions
The recent reorientation of economics towards tackling the issue of how institutions shape economic behaviour and performance takes on a variety of theoretical, empirical, and methodological forms. Not surprisingly, the new economics of institutions abounds exciting conceptual and philosophical issues. The programme sets out to exploit the opportunity to contribute to the resolution of these issues. The focus is on the new economics of institutions broadly understood, including evolutionary theorizing, path dependence and self-organizing systems, transaction cost economics, game theory, and Austrian economics. A variety of fundamental concepts, ontological commitments, and explanatory structures call for close crutiny, such as those of rationality, institution, rule and convention, social order, organization, market, evolution, value, culture, subjectivity, causality, methodological individualism, functionalist explanation.

Theme B. Institutions of Economics
Economics can study institutions (Theme A), but economics is itself embedded in the institutions of science and society. These "institutions of economics" -- including the "culture" of economics -- can be studied from different perspectives and by means of a variety of tools. These include the rhetorical, anthropological, and sociological approaches, as well as the study of economics interms of economics itself. These analyses may focus on the established linguistic conventions, metaphors, and other means of persuasion employed by economists; the role of tradition, trust, education, and authority in constraining the beliefs held by economists; the structure of the division of cognitive labour, the market of scientific ideas, the intellectual property rights, as well as the costs and benefits of accepting and rejecting hypotheses.

Theme C. Economics in Philosophy
Economics is an increasingly popular subject of metascientific inquiry (Themes A, B, and D). But economic concepts and metaphors are also increasingly being employed as means in the philosophy of science. Scientists are depicted as pursuing their self-interest characterized in terms such as fame, prestige, and credibility. The social arena in which this takes place is described as a market for ideas where scientists entrepreneurially try to innovate and advertise their products, given the prevailing structure of incentives and property rights. Investments are being made and returns are expected. The costs and benefits of additional efforts are being balanced. The market for ideas may function satisfactorily well, or market imperfections may emerge, possibly calling for external intervention. This new trend in the philosophy of science and social epistemology poses a special challenge to the philosophy of economics. Which economic theories are used to describe science? How can the use of those theories be justified?

Theme D. Philosophy in Economics
The specialty of this Theme is that "philosophy" is here understood in terms of the controversy between different forms of realism and anti-realism. "Economics" is to be understood in terms of the controversy between economics with institutions and economics without institutions as a theoretical issue. Economic theories involve various more or less dramatic idealizations and simplifications, which creates doubts about whether these theories relate to economic reality at all. Does the incorporation of institutions in one's economic theory make a difference in regard to this issue? Another source of these anti-realist doubts is related to the incorporation of institutions in one's metatheoretic picture of economics, namely the relativist and constructivist tendencies inherent in some of the work on the rhetoric, sociology, and economics of economics. The task here is to see whether or not a realist philosophy of science is able to dispell these doubts and to restore some of the traditional realist virtues such as the possibility of attainment of informative truth about the world. Part of the undertaking is to analyze the structure of economic theories and explanations and their ontological presuppositions.

The admission requirements are:

• A Bachelor/Master in Economics, or Philosophy, or Philosophy and Economics
  
• A grade for the BA thesis equivalent to at least 8 in the Dutch grading system
  
• An average grade in the BA equivalent to at least 7.5
  
• A successful proficiency test of English:
  -a minimum score of 600 for the paper based TOEFL, and a minimum score for the computer-based TOEFL of 250,
  -or a minimum score of 7 on the IELTS test.
  
• A satisfactory letter of intent.

The Research Master aims to prepare students for an academic career in the area of philosophy and economics. It provides a thorough grounding in the main areas of the philosophy of economics together with the analytical and research skills required for further study as a junior researcher or PhD candidate.

The Erasmus Research Master in Philosophy and Economics awards an internationally recognised MA degree. This qualification meets the standards set by EIPE for acceptance to EIPE?s own Ph.D programme. Every year EIPE provides a few bursaries for new Ph.D projects by graduates of the Research Master. The Research Master also meets the standards for acceptance to comparable Ph.D programmes abroad.