What Do Economists Talk About? A Linguistic Analysis of Published Writing in Economic Journals.

The present study aims to add to our knowledge about economic rhetoric by conducting a data-driven analysis of economic academic discourse, both synchronically in its contemporary form, and diachronically over the past four decades. We find (1) that linguistically, economics is clearly an academic g...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American Journal of Economics & Sociology Vol. 66; no. 2; pp. 335 - 379
Main Authors: Goldschmidt, Nils, Szmrecsanyi, Benedikt
Format: Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell April 2007
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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Summary:The present study aims to add to our knowledge about economic rhetoric by conducting a data-driven analysis of economic academic discourse, both synchronically in its contemporary form, and diachronically over the past four decades. We find (1) that linguistically, economics is clearly an academic genre of its own, (2) that there are at the same time clear differences in vocabulary and style usage across economic journals, and (3) that there have been major developments in economic prose during the past four decades. We argue that there is some, albeit tentative, evidence that the discipline may face an increasing methodological gap. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.