Economics as Allegory

Abstract

The paper consists of an investigation of Donald McCloskey’s proposition that economic journals contain both metaphors and allegory. The first section consists of a definition of allegory where it is shown that the defining trait of allegory is that it can be read on two levels, the literal and the figurative or allegory. This definition is then used to show (in the second section) that while narrative economic allegories can certainly be written, such economics narratives as the typical “Robinson Crusoe Allegory” are not, in fact, allegory. An example of an economic narrative which is allegory is provided. The second section concludes by demonstrating that mathematical economic models are allegory, and an example is given. In the third section it is shown that both the literal and figurative levels of mathematical economic models are abstract, and that this fact has important implications for the use of empirical data in economics.