Bringing the political back in: Essays in economic knowledge, politics, and ecology

This thesis is composed of two distinct parts: a paper on the meaning of Adam Smith's concept of "invisible hand" as used in the Wealth of Nations, and a series of papers on the issue of sustainability entitled Towards a procedural theory of sustainability.;The paper on Adam Smith provides a significant historical example of how economics can fulfill this second function; the chapters on sustainability argue that it has become urgent to adopt this alternative methodology in order to address environmental issues.;The prevailing economic theory at the time of Smith's writing was mercantilism. Mercantilism gave a central role to merchants in creating social wealth. Because of this, merchants were able to hold strong political power that they used to coerce other classes of society. There was thus a close association between the teachings of mercantilist theory, and the corruption of the political process in favor of private interests. Smith recognized this political association, and called upon the market to serve as a countervailing political force.;The value of an integrated conception of social sciences and the political is also evident in the contemporary discussion on environmental sustainability. For, as I argue in the second part of the thesis, there is no place for environmental concerns within the economic and political constraints as they are described by contemporary economic theory. Indeed, there is no conception of politics available which could take into account environmental issues while being compatible with mainstream economic theory. The purpose of the two first papers is to spell out this deadlock, while the third paper illustrates a possible alternative approach with an analysis of the discourses on the causes and consequences of population growth. The general theme to which these papers on sustainability are related is presented in an introductory chapter.;The two parts are by and large independent. They share, however, a common theme: that because our knowledge about society, and in particular about the economy, shapes the interaction between different spheres of society, the possibilities for social transformations are greater than what is suggested by this knowledge, so that our capacity to take advantage of these possibilities does not reside in our knowledge of society but in the political process. This theme raises a methodological question with regard to the social function of economics: is the function of economics to reveal "laws" inherent to a modern economy, as advocated by positive economists? Or can economics be placed at the service of democratic deliberation by putting forward alternative institutional arrangements that would overcome the existing economic constraints?...