Problem of the “Travel” of Economic Ideas Between Distinct Contexts and the Different Levels of the Language of Economic Discourse

Abstract

The article aims to actualize the Senior indetermination research program (Silveira 1999) by means of historical epistemology and actor-network theory (ANT). This proposal intends to deal with a methodological problem which involves the “travel” of economic ideas in different contexts. Usually this “trip” is understood as a process of diffusion of theories and ideas, as in the models of Spengler (1970) and Mäi (1996). We show that the diffusion approach is limited due to the nature of socio economic objects and to the heterogeneity of economic discourse. Finally, we present an overview of the translation of ideas approach, showing how power-knowledge networks demand that economic concepts be studied from a rhetorical point of view and that ideas be translated before diffusion. We conclude presenting four reasons by which the translation approach can help understanding how the “travel” of economic ideas actually happens.