Proceedings of a conference held at Erasmus University of Rotterdam, November 14-15, 1997.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

I. Introduction: -- Dismal queen of the social sciences / Uskali Maki -- II. Setting the scene: -- Ugly currents in modern economics / Mark Blaug -- Modern economics and its critics / Partha Dasgupta -- Some nonreasons for nonrealism about economics / Uskali Maki -- III. Economic models and economic reality: -- Credible worlds: the status of theoretical models in economics / Robert Sugden -- Limits of causal order, from economics to physics / Nancy Cartwright -- Econometrics and reality / Kevin D. Hoover -- Models, stories, and the economic world / Mary S. Morgan -- Economic models and reality: the role of informal scientific methods / Roger E. Backhouse -- Truthlikeness and economic theories / Ilkka Niiniluoto -- IV. The constitution of economic reality: -- Rational choice, functional selection, and "empty black boxes" / Philip Pettit -- Reality of common cultures / Shaun P. Hargreaves Heap -- Collective acceptance and collective attitudes: on the social construction of social reality / Raimo Tuomela, Wolfgang Balzer -- Hayek and cultural evolution / Bruce Caldwell -- Putting evidence in its place: John Mill's early struggles with "facts in the concrete" / Neil De Marchi -- V. The institutions of economics: -- You shouldn't want a realism if you have a rhetoric / Deirdre N. McCloskey -- More things change, the more they stay the same: social realism in contemporary science studies / D. Wade Hands -- Economists: truth-seekers or rent-seekers? / Jesus P. Zamora Bonilla