This eagerly anticipated new book from Tony Lawson contends that economics can profit from a more explicit concern with ontology (enquiry into the nature of existence) than has been its custom.

Far from being a polemic against the currently dominant set of economic practices, this excellent book sustains the thesis that if economics is to be saved from itself it is highly desirable to seek, where feasible, a continual dialogue between all interested parties. The coverage of the Reorienting Economics includes commentaries on the current state of economics, the nature of ontological theorising (including the nature of its consequences), possibilities for social explanation, the scope of economics, evolutionary thinking, the contribution of heterodox traditions including feminist economics, post Keynesianism and old institutionalism, the historical process whereby economics came to take its current orientation, and much else. As with Lawson's previous writings, Reorienting Economics will be of interest not only to economists but also to philosophers, the variety of social theorists, and indeed anyone interested in understanding the current state of social theorising and contemplating how it might be improved.