Overcoming Index Number Monism: from Haberler and Neurath to the 21st Century
Sprache des Vortragstitels:
Englisch
Original Tagungtitel:
European Network for the Philosophy of the Social Sciences,
Sprache des Tagungstitel:
Englisch
Original Kurzfassung:
Index numbers mesmerize the public, in times of galloping inflation even more so. They are thought to have the capacity to condense complex phenomena to a single numeral in a scientifically objective manner and to order seemingly incommensurable phenomena, as well as to justify policies. Recent criticisms have spotlighted misuses and pitfalls of quantification in general (Newfield et al 2023), and of the underestimated role of value judgements in the creation, calculation, and application of price indices in particular (Reiss 2008, 2022). Despite these criticisms and increasing heterogeneity of lifestyles and consumer choices, mainstream economics, public discourse, and policy are by and large bogged down to a single, allegedly encompassing consumer price index (for recent developments see e.g. Schultze & Mackie 2002, Sichel & Mackie 2022).
Aiming to illuminate the persistence of ?the? standard consumer price index, ?the? GDP, and other unique indices, this paper combines a historical (I), a systematic philosophical (II), and a political practical perspective.
(I) We rationally reconstruct early criticisms of index numbers and how they are used in practice, and we show that these concerns anticipated many contemporary demurs. In the cautionary spirit of Viennese Late Enlightenment, Austrian economists Gottfried Haberler (1927) and logical empiricist Otto Neurath (1910, 1911, 1937, 1939) critically discussed the limitations of index numbers right from the start. Their own constructive contributions impress by their highly modern pluralism and contextualism: a meaningful assessment of ?the standard of living? or of ?the price level? is dependent on the context and purpose of the inquiry.
(II) Contrary to many contemporary philosophers of social science, Haberler and Neurath upheld versions of a fact-value dichotomy.
(III) In a political practical outlook, we sketch a strategy for promoting a plurality of indices.
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