This paper examines the implications of Chicago School economist Edward Lazear's 2000 defense of economics imperialism using standard trade theory. It associates that defense with interdisciplinarity or the idea that the sciences are relatively autonomous, but treats this defense as a mask for a...

This paper uses George Soros' theory of boom--bust cycles to argue that mainstream economics, as built on Samuelson's Foundations, followed such a cyclical prototype. It underwent a reflexive, positive feedback pattern of development before 1980 followed by a reflexive, negative feedback pattern...