I grew up in Hoorn, 30 kilometers north of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. In 2002 I started my undergraduate studies at the University of Amsterdam in Political Science and Economics. In both fields I was especially attracted to the intellectual history courses. In 2006 I moved to London for the MSc program at the London School of Economics in the Philosophy of the Social Science. After some wandering I started my PhD under the supervision of Arjo Klamer in the summer of 2008, first as external PhD-student and later as PhD-lecturer at the Erasmus University. I graduated in January 2014 with a dissertation on the cultural and intellectual milieu of interwar Vienna and the Austrian School of Economics. I turned my dissertation into a book during a post-doc at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, it was published as The Viennese Students of Civilization in 2016 (Cambridge). Most of my teaching has been in the Cultural Economics & Entrepreneurship program at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam in which I taught the applied economics of the arts as well as the more heterodox approach to cultural economics which seeks to combine insights from the humanities with economic theory. In 2017 I started another post-doc project at the Erasmus School of Economicsto write the intellectual biography of the first Nobel Prize winner in economics, the econometrician and idealist Jan Tinbergen. The resulting book is Jan Tinbergen and the Rise of Economic Expertise (CUP, 2021), or in Dutch 'Jan Tinbergen. Een econoom op zoek naar vrede.' (Boom, 2021). Over the years I became more interested in economic sociology and institutional economics, two interests which come together in the edited volume (with Pavel Kuchar) Governing Markets as Knowledge Commons (CUP, 2021) which will come out in the Fall of 2021. Currently I am working on a history of the intellectual descendants of the German Historical School as well the economic sociology analysis of so-called grey zones: markets and communities operating at the fringes of society. In the summer of 2021 I left the Erasmus University and joined the Mercatus Center at George Mason University as Senior Research Fellow.
Erwin Dekker Mercatus Center at George Mason University dekker.erwin [at] gmail.com My most recent research is available at ResearchGate Connect at Facebook Publications: Academic Books Dekker, Erwin and Valeria Morea. Realizing the Values of Art: Making Space for Cultural Civil Society. Cham: Palgrave. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24598-5 Dekker, Erwin and Kuchař, Pavel. 2021. Governing Markets as Knowledge Commons. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108692915 Dekker, Erwin. 2021. Jan Tinbergen (1903-1994) and the Rise of Economic Expertise. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Dekker, Erwin. 2016. The Viennese Students of Civilization: The Meaning and Context of Austrian Economics Reconsidered. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Peer-reviewed articles Dekker, Erwin. 2024. “Staatswissenschaften and the Mathematical Policy Science of Jan Tinbergen.” History of Political Economy 56 (3): 489–512. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-11156240. Dekker, Erwin, and Blaž Remic. 2024. “Hayek’s Extended Mind: On the (Im)Possibility of Austrian Behavioural Economics.” Journal of Institutional Economics 20 (January). https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744137424000055. Dekker, Erwin. 2023. “Framing the Market: The Unexpected Commonalities between Karl Polanyi and the Ordoliberals.” ORDO 72–73 (1): 19–38. https://doi.org/10.1515/ordo-2023-2003. Dekker, Erwin, and Pavel Kuchař. 2023. “Markets and Knowledge Commons: Is There a Difference between Private and Community Governance of Markets?” Public Choice, September. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-023-01099-0. Dekker, Erwin. 2023. “Jan Tinbergen, een econoom op zoek naar vrede: Een discussie: Reactie van de auteur.” TSEG - The Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History 20 (2). https://doi.org/10.52024/tseg.14868. Dekker, Erwin and Lies De Strooper. “Why the Impressionists did not create Impressionism”, Journal of Cultural Economics, online first. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-023-09479-6 Dekker, Erwin. 2023. “Smith at 300: The Lure of Poetry and Profit.” Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 45 (2): 184-186. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1053837222000505 Dekker, Erwin. 2022. “Jan Tinbergen and the Limits of Expertise: Response to My Critics.” Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics 15 (2): 120–36. https://doi.org/10.23941/ejpe.v15i2.725. Dekker, Erwin and Willem Cornax. 2022. “Elizabeth van Dorp and the Women’s Question at the Intersection of Bourgeois Ideals and Liberal Economics.” Oeconomia 12 (3), 581-604. https://doi.org/10.4000/oeconomia.12338 Dekker, Erwin, and Julien Gradoz. 2022. “Managing Repugnance: How Core-Stigma Shapes Firm Behavior.” Journal of Institutional Economics, online first. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744137422000455. Dekker, Erwin and Stefan Kolev. 2022. “Carl Menger’s Smithian Contributions to German Political Economy.” Review of Austrian Economics, online first: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11138-022-00602-y Dekker, Erwin. 2022. “An ‘Ordo-Thinker’ on the Left: Jan Tinbergen on the National and International Economic Order.” History of Political Economy 54 (4): 689–718. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-9895888. Dekker, Erwin. 2022. “Introduction to Special Issue – The Work of William J. Baumol: Heterodox Inspirations and Neoclassical Models.” Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology: Including a Symposium on the Work of William J. Baumol: Heterodox Inspirations and Neoclassical Models, Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, 40B (January): 3–10. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0743-41542022000040B001. Dekker, Erwin, and Julien Gradoz. 2022. “Exemplary Directors, European Imports, and the Changing Valuation of Films in Hollywood, 1961–1980.” Cultural Sociology, 174997552110701. https://doi.org/10.1177/17499755211070137. Dekker, Erwin. 2022. ‘Tinbergen in Turkey: Exporting Institutions.’ History of Political Economy 54 (3): 505-525. Dekker, Erwin, and Pavel Kuchař. 2022. ‘A Mengerian Theory of Knowledge and Economic Development.’ Cosmos +Taxis 10 (5–6): 24–35. Dalla Chiesa, Carolina and Erwin Dekker. 2022. ‘Communicating identity: how the symbolic meaning of goods creates different market types’, Review of Social Economy, online first. https://doi.org/10.1080/00346764.2021.2019822 Dekker, Erwin and Pavel Kuchař. 2021. ‘The Ostrom Workshop: Artisanship and Knowledge Commons.’ Revue d’Économie Politique 131(4): 637-664. https://doi.org/10.3917/redp.314.0033 Dekker, Erwin. 2021. ‘The New Theory of Individual and Collective Needs in the Second Edition of Carl Menger’s Principles of Economics.’ Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology 39B (August): 43–56. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0743-41542021000039B004. Dalla Chiesa, Carolina and Erwin Dekker. 2021. ‘Crowdfunding artists: beyond match- making on platforms.’ Socio-Economic Review, online first. https://doi.org /10.1093/ser/mwab006 Dekker, Erwin, and Pavel Kuchař. 2020. “Bourgeois Knowledge: The Incomplete Closure of the Epistemological Break in the Work of Deirdre McCloskey.” Journal of Contextual Economics – Schmollers Jahrbuch 140 (3–4): 301–17. https://doi.org/10.3790/schm.140.3-4.301. Kolev, Stefan and Erwin Dekker. 2020. ‘Why a Pandemic needs Social Science.’ Power and Democracy, 2 (2), 29-44. Dekker, Erwin, Blaž Remic and Carolina Dalla Chiesa. 2020. ‘Incentives matter, but what do they mean? Understanding the meaning of market coordination.’ Review of Political Economy 32 (2), 163-179. doi: 10.1080/09538259.2019.1628341 Dekker, Erwin. 2020. ‘On emancipators, engineers, and students: The appropriate attitude of the economist.’ Review of Austrian Economics, 33 (1), 55-68. doi: 10.1007/s11138-019-00439-y Dekker, Erwin. 2019. ‘Is There an Agenda of Neoliberal Emancipation?’ Journal of Contextual Economics – Schmollers Jahrbuch 139 (2–4): 213–24. https://doi.org/10.3790/schm.139.2-4.213. Dekker, Erwin. 2019. ‘Entangled Economists: Ragnar Frisch & Jan Tinbergen.’ Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics, 12 (2), 65-85. doi: 10.23941/ejpe.v12i2.451 Dekker, Erwin and Pavel Kuchař. 2019. ‘Lachmann and Shackle: On the Joint Production of Interpretation Instruments.’ Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, 37 (b), 25-42. doi: 10.1108/S0743-41542019000037B005 Dekker, Erwin and Ana Carolina Rodrigues. 2019. ‘The political economy of Brazilian cultural policy: a case study of the Rouanet Law.’ Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice, 34 (2), 149-171. doi: 10.1332/251569119X15675896589688 Dekker, Erwin and Blaž Remic. 2019. ‘Two Types of Ecological Rationality: Or How to Best Combine Economics and Psychology.’ Journal of Economic Methodology, 26, 291-306. McAdam, Mark, Stefan Kolev and Erwin Dekker. 2018. ‘Methods for Understanding Economic Change: Socio-Economics and German Political Economy, 1896–1938.’ Journal of Contextual Economics, 138 (3-4), 185–197. doi:10.3790/schm.138.3-4.185 Dekker, Erwin. 2018. ‘Schumpeter: Theorist of the Avant-Garde.’ Review of Austrian Economics, 31(2): 177-194. Dekker, Erwin. 2017. ‘Aspirational Individuals in the work of Michel Houellebecq and James Buchanan.’ M@n@gement, 20(3), 303-308. Dekker, Erwin and Pavel Kuchař. 2017. ‘Emergent orders of worth: Must we agree on more than a price?’ Cosmos + Taxis 4 (1), 23–34. Dekker, Erwin and Marielle de Jong. 2017. ‘What do book Awards signal? An analysis of book awards in three countries.’ Empirical Studies of the Arts, 36 (1), 3-21. Dekker, Erwin and Stefan Kolev. 2016. ‘Introduction to and translation of Carl Menger’s The Social Theories of Classical Political Economy and Modern Economic Policy (and translation).’ Econ Journal Watch, 13 (3), 467-489. Dekker, Erwin and Pavel Kuchař. 2016. ‘The Good as Economic Variable: Exemplary Goods.’ Journal of Contextual Economics, 136 (3): 237-256. Dekker, Erwin. 2016. ‘Exemplary Goods: Exemplars as Judgment Devices.’ Valuation Studies, 4 (2), 103–124. http://doi.org/10.3384/VS. Dekker, Erwin. 2016. ‘The Moral Scholar and the A-Moral Scientist: The Responsibility of the Social Scientist in Austrian Economics before and after the Migration.’ Research in the History and Methodology of Economic Thought, 34A, 45–71. http://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ S0743-41542016000034A014 Dekker, Erwin. 2016. ‘Left Luggage: Finding the relevant context of Austrian Economics.’ Review of Austrian Economics, 29 (2): 103-119. Dekker, Erwin. 2015. ‘Two Approaches to study the Value of Art and Culture, and the emergence of a third.’ Journal of Cultural Economics 39 (4), 309-326. Dekker, Erwin. 2014. ‘Vienna Circles: Cultivating Economic Knowledge outside Academia.’ Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics 7:2: p. 30-53. Dekker, Erwin and Zuzanna Popik. 2014. ‘By Unanimous Decision? A Second Look at Consensus in the Film Industry.’ Creativity Research Journal 26 (1): 95-105. 10.1080/10400419.2014.873669 Dekker, Erwin, and Paul Teule. 2012. ‘Economics Made Fun , and Made Fun of: How ‘Fun’ Redefines the Domain and Identity of the Economics Profession.’ Journal of Economic Methodology 19 (4): 427–437. Book chapters/other articles Dekker, Erwin. 2023. “‘The Era of Planned Development’: The Founding of the State Planning Organisation.” In A Hundred Years of Republican Turkey: A History in a Hundred Fragments, edited by Alp Yenen and Erik-Jan Zürcher, 223–26. Leiden: Leiden University Press. Dekker, Erwin. 2022. “How Cognitive Institutions and Interpretative Rationality Enable Markets with Infinite Variety.” In Advances in Austrian Economics, edited by Daniel J. D’Amico and Adam G. Martin, 151–67. Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-213420220000026012. Dekker, Erwin. 2021. 'Jan Tinbergen over bevolkingsdruk en vooruitgang.' Demos 37 (juni): 1-4. https://nidi.nl/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/demos-37-06.pdf Dekker, Erwin and Pavel Kuchař. 2021. ‘Heterarchy. Second Edition.’ In Alain Marciano and Giovanni Battista Ramello (eds.) Encyclopedia of Law and Economics. https://doi.org /10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_640-2. Heilman, Conrad, Stefan Wintein, Ruth Hinz and Erwin Dekker. 2021. ‘Mathematical Psychology. A translation of Jan Tinbergen ‘Mathematiese Psychologie’ (1930).’ Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics 14 (1): 210-221. https://doi.org/10.23941/ejpe.v14i1.607 Dekker, Erwin. 2021. ‘The Political Process: Experimentation and Learning (Contribution to Symposium on Scott Scheall’s F. A. Hayek and the Epistemology of Politics).’, Cosmos + Taxis, 9 (3+4): 15-22. Dekker, Erwin. 2021. ‘The Construction of an International Order in the Work of Jan Tinbergen.’ In Alexandre Mendes de Cunha and Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak (eds.) Political Economy and International Order in Interwar Europe, 117-137. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47102-6_5. Dekker, Erwin and Stefan Kolev. 2019. ‘A View from Europe: Austrian Economics, Civil Society, and PPE.’ In Daniel D'Amico (ed.), Assessing Austrian Economics (Advances in Austrian Economics, 24), 69-79. Bingley, UK: Emerald Dekker, Erwin and Pavel Kuchař. 2017. ‘Heterarchy.’ In Alain Marciano and G.B. Ramello (eds.) Encyclopedia of Law and Economics, 1-5. New York: Springer. Dekker, Erwin. 2017. ‘The economic de-legitimization and legitimization of arts policies 1970-1985.’ In J. Bek-Thomsen, C.O. Christiansen, S.G. Jacobsen and M. Thorup (eds.) History of Economic Rationalities – Economic Reasoning as Knowledge and Practice Authority, 113-120. New York: Springer. Dekker, Erwin and Arjo Klamer. 2016. ‘What is the Right Thing to do as an Academic Economist.’ In George DeMartino and Deirdre McCloskey (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Professional Economics Ethics, 101-115. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Handke, Christian and Erwin Dekker. 2014. ‘From Austria to Australia: Mark Blaug and Cultural Economics.’ In Marcel Boumans and Mathias Klaes (eds.) Mark Blaug: Rebel with Many Causes, 225-244. London: Edward Elgar. Dekker, Erwin. 2014. ‘The Intellectual Networks of Otto Neurath: Between the Coffeehouse and Academia.’ In Carlos Reijnen and Marleen Rensen (eds.) European Encounters: Intellectual Exchange and the Rethinking of Europe (1914-1945), 103-122. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Klamer, Arjo, Erwin Dekker and Sander Geenen. 2013. ‘Nederland Als Corporatistische Samenleving: Tijd Voor Een Herwaardering?’ In Paul T. de Beer (ed.) Arbeidsverhoudingen Onder Druk. Prae-adviezen voor de Koninklijke Vereniging voor Staathuishoudkunde, 59–82. Den Haag: Sdu Uitgevers. Klamer, Arjo, Erwin Dekker, Lyudmila Petrova, and Claudine de With. (2009). ‘Het Creatief Vermogen.’ Boekman Cahier 77: 22–27. Book Reviews Dekker, Erwin. 2024. “Book review of ‘Identity, Capabilities, and Changing Economics” by John B. Davis. Review of Austrian Economics, online first. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11138-024-00649-z Dekker, Erwin. 2023. “Book Review of ‘Hayek: A Life, 1899-1950’ by Bruce Caldwell and Hansjoerg Klausinger.” The Independent Institute 28 (3). https://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?id=1923. Dekker, Erwin. 2023. “Individual Hope and Cultural Despair among the Early Ordoliberals.” ORDO 72–73 (1): 552–57. https://doi.org/10.1515/ordo-2023-2033. Dekker, Erwin. 2023. “Book Review of Paul Sagar’s Adam Smith Reconsidered: History, Liberty, and the Foundations of Modern Politics.” Journal of Economic Methodology. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350178X.2023.2223428. Dekker, Erwin. 2023. “Book Review of Michael Assous and Vincent Carret’s ‘Modelling Economic Instability. A History of Early Macroeconomics.’” The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 30 (1): 141–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/09672567.2022.2138885. Dekker, Erwin. 2022. ‘Review of ‘Constructing Economic Science’ by Keith Tribe. Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics, 15:1, 145-152. Dekker, Erwin. 2022. ‘Review of ‘Conservative Liberalism, Ordoliberalism and the State’ by Kenneth Dyson. EH.net, 1 February 2022. https://eh.net/book_reviews/conservative-liberalism-ordoliberalism-and-the-state/ Dekker, Erwin. 2021. ‘Review of “Society on the Edge: Social Science and Public Policy in the Postwar United States” by Philippe Fontaine and Jefferson D. Pooley.’, Oeconomia 11:4, 715-719. https://doi.org/10.4000/oeconomia.11784 Dekker, Erwin. 2021. 'Review of 'Neoliberal Social Justice' by Nick Cowen. Journal of Economics. online first: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00712-021-00767-3 Dekker, Erwin. 2021. ‘Review of “Marginal Revolutionaries: how Austrian economists fought the war of ideas’ by Janek Wasserman, European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 28: 168-170. Dekker, Erwin. 2020. ‘Review of “The Economic Thought of Michael Polanyi” by Gábor Bíró.’ Journal of the History of Economic Thought, September, 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1053837220000140. Dekker, Erwin. 2020. ‘Review of “Innovation Commons: The Origin of Economic Growth” by Jason Potts.’ Journal of Cultural Economics 44: 661–64. Dekker, Erwin. 2019. ‘Review of “Exact Thinking in Demented Times: The Vienna Circle and the Epic Quest for the Foundations of Science” by Karl Sigmund’. Review of Austrian Economics 32, 269-275. Dekker, Erwin. 2018. ‘The virtues of the market: Wilhelm Röpke as a cultural economist [Book review of “Wilhelm Röpke (1899–1966): A Liberal Political Economist and Conservative Social Philosopher” by Patricia Commun and Stefan Kolev]. Ordo Yearbook 69, 496-499. Dekker, Erwin. 2018. ‚Tugenden der Freiheit: Wilhelm Röpke als kultureller Ökonom [Book review of “Wilhelm Röpke (1899–1966): A Liberal Political Economist and Conservative Social Philosopher” by Patricia Commun and Stefan Kolev].’ Frankfurter Algemeiner Zeitung, 24 July 2018, 16. Dekker, Erwin. 2018. ‘Review of “The First Serious Optimist. A.C. Pigou and the Birth of Welfare Economics” by Ian Kumekawa.’ International Review of Social History, 63 (2), 350-352. Dekker, Erwin. 2018. ‘Review of “Storytelling and Choice” by Marina Bianchi and R. Patalano. Journal of Cultural Economics, 42 (3): 521-523. Dekker, Erwin. 2016. ‘Review of “Ethics in Economics” by Jonathan Wight.’ History of Economic Ideas, 24 (1): 178-180. Dekker, Erwin. 2012. ‘Van Idealen Naar Belangen - Perspectiefveranderingen in de Sociale Wetenschappen [Review of “Freedom” by Jonathan Franzen and “The Age of Fracture” by Daniel T. Rodgers].’ Academische Boekengids 94, 21-23. Dekker, Erwin. 2009. ‘De Hersenscanner en de Economische Wetenschap [Review Conference “Neuroeconomics: Hype or Hope” in Rotterdam].’ Algemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor de Wijsbegeerte 101 (2), 149-151. Dekker, Erwin. 2008. ‘Review of “Speaking of Economics” by Arjo Klamer. Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics 1, 175-180. Popular publications Dekker, Erwin and Lies De Strooper. 2024. ‘Why the Impressionists did not create Impressionism’. EconomistsTalkArt. https://culturaleconomics.org/why-the-impressionists-did-not-create-impressionism/ Dekker, Erwin. 2023. ‘The best books to understand why cultural knowledge is essential to understand the economy.’ Shepherd. https://shepherd.com/best-books/cultural-knowledge-to-understand-the-economy Dekker, Erwin. 2023. ‘Reading: Jan Tinbergen. The Dynamics of the Present.’ Royal Economics Society Newsletter 200: 18-20. Dekker, Erwin. 2022. ‘On Hayek, Entrepreneurship, Elites and Social Change.‘ Digressions and Impressions blog. https://digressionsnimpressions.typepad.com/digressionsimpressions/2022/05/guestpost-by-erwin-dekker.html Dekker, Erwin and Pavel Kuchař. 2022. ‘Epistemological Break in Political Economy’. Blog of the Centre for the Study of Governance and Society at King’s College London. https://csgs.kcl.ac.uk/epistemological-break-in-political-economy/ Dekker, Erwin and Pavel Kuchař. 2021. ‘The Skyhook and Knowledge Commons: What can Kareem Abdul-Jabbar teach us about markets?’, Fifteen Eightyfour: Academic Perspectives from Cambridge University Press. http://www.cambridgeblog.org/2021/12/the-skyhook-and-knowledge-commons-what-can-kareem-abdul-jabbar-teach-us-about-markets/ Dekker, Erwin. 2021. ‘Te vaak zetten een-tweetjes tussen politici en experts de samenleving buitenspel.’ De Volkskrant, 27 mei 2021. https://www.volkskrant.nl/columns-opinie/te-vaak-zetten-een-tweetjes-tussen-politici-en-experts-de-samenleving-buitenspel~be2504f9/ Dekker, Erwin. 2020. ‘Hoe zou Tinbergen reageren op de coronacrisis.’ TPEdigitaal, 14 (3): 110-112. Dekker, Erwin. 2020. ‘Jan Tinbergen en de VN.’ VN Forum (UN 75 and Beyond) 33. https://nvvn.nl/jan-tinbergen-en-de-verenigde-naties/ Dekker, Erwin. 2020. ‘De Polder en de expert gaan lang niet altijd goed samen.’ Economisch-Statistische Berichten, 105 (4786), 9-12. https://esb.nu/esb/20059618/de-polder-en-de-expert-gaan-lang-niet-altijd-goed-samen Dekker, Erwin. 2020. ‘We zien nu de gevaren van het Poldermodel.’ Nederlands Dagblad, 15 juli. https://www.nd.nl/opinie/opinie/977548/we-zien-nu-de-gevaren-van-het-poldermodel-de-eigen-belangen-gaan-# Dekker, Erwin. 2019. ‘Het werk van econoom Jan Tinbergen is een halve eeuw na zijn Nobelprijs nog actueel.’ Trouw, 7 december. https://www.trouw.nl/economie/het-werk-van-econoom-jan-tinbergen-is-een-halve-eeuw-na-zijn-nobelprijs-nog-actueel~bb0fed1c/ Dekker, Erwin. 2014. Economie kan niet zonder Maatschappij/Ja echt, Economie kan niet zonder Mensen, NRC Handelsblad, 6 januari. (interview about dissertation). https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2014/01/06/economie-kan-niet-zonder-maatschappij-1332736-a694477 Klamer, Arjo, Erwin Dekker and Paul Teule. 2011. Economie voor in bed, op het toilet of in bad (English translation of the title: Economics for the bedroom, the bathroom or the bathtub). Amersfoort: BBNC uitgevers. |