Current Pinkerian views about the Enlightenment continue a tradition that made it possible to base economic theory on far-fetched assumptions and still appear reasonable to a majority. This was an approach that would make it possible to create theories tailor-made to fit the vested interests of...

Current approaches to the economic evaluations of environmental and health policies may suffer from excessive reliance on a standard neoclassic economic toolbox that neglects alternative economic schools. This may prematurely limit the spectrum of available policy options. Here we show how the...

Current approaches to the economic evaluations of environmental and health policies may suffer from excessive reliance on a standard neoclassic economic toolbox that neglects alternative economic schools. This may prematurely limit the spectrum of available policy options. Here we show how the...

In this paper we explore five recent cases of regulatory capture in Europe, and zoom in on a form of corporate penetration which is based on a strategic use of the image and legitimacy of science. We examine cases in which lobbyists present themselves as upholders science and of evidence-based...

The proliferation of the visible and invisible numbers populating society, is attracting a growing interest for the sociology of quantification. This is also a natural consequence of digital agendas actively promoted by states and international organizations. Numbers are seductive, performative...

Sensitivity analysis (SA) studies how much the uncertainty of a model output depends upon its inputs. Though it is generally agreed in existing guidelines that uncertainty and sensitivity analyses are both crucial for the validation or verification of a model, their application is hampered by...

The topic of uncertainty, risk and ignorance, and one may add probability, is controversial both across and within professions. While Frank Knight and Maynard Keynes both believed that risk and uncertainty are quite different objects, generations of Bayesian statisticians and economists have...

This brief synthesizes doubts about the presently prevailing European Institutions’ narrative, which we will call ‘the received wisdom’. We concentrate on the long-term challenges and plead for more thinking on the allegedly positive relation between innovation, employment and growth in...