The importance of language in economics has been neglected and dominated by techniques from other disciplines. This looks at the wider methological implications of language within economics in a practical and theoretical way.

Willie Henderson is Senior Lecturer in the School of Continuing Studies at the University of Birmingham. He has a long-standing interest in methodological, language and edu­cational issues in economics. His most recent work is published in Dudley-Evans and Henderson (eds) The Language of Economics: The Analysis of Economics Discourse. Tony Dudley-Evans is Senior Lecturer and Director of the English for Overseas Students' Unit at the University of Birmingham. He has published widely in the area of English for Specific Purposes and genre analysis. He has travelled extensively, lecturing on the teaching of ESP and the analysis of academic text. Roger Backhouse is Reader in the History of Economic Thought at the University of Birmingham. He has published papers on macroeconomics, the history of economic thought and economic methodology, and is the author of A History of Modern Economic Analysis (1985) and Economists and the Economy (I 988). He is Review Editor of the Economic journal.

Contributors -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- I EXPLORING THE LANGUAGE AND RHETORIC OF ECONOMICS /Roger Backkouse, Tony Dudley-Evans and Willie Henderson -- Part I Rhetoric and critical theory -- 2 TWO PHILOSOPHIES OF THE RHETORIC OF ECONOMICS /Uskali Miiki -- 3 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF INTERPRETATION IN ECONOMICS /Bill Gerrard -- 4 DECANONIZING DISCOURSES: TEXTUAL ANALYSIS AND THE HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT /Vivienne Brown -- 5 MEANING IN THE CONTEXT OF BARGAINING GAMES - NARRATIVES IN OPPOSITION /Judith Mehta -- Part II Controversy and hedging in economics -- 6 THE DEBATE OVER MILTON FRIEDMAN'S THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: AN ECONOMIST'S VIEW /Roger Backkouse -- 7 THE DEBATE OVER MILTON FRIEDMAN'S THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK.: AN APPLIED LINGUIST'S VIEW /Tony Dudley-Evans -- 8 HOW ECONOMISTS MODIFY PROPOSITIONS /Meriel Bloor and Thomas Bloor -- Part III Language and the history of economic thought -- 9 MONEY TALKS: THE RHETORICAL PROJECT OF THE WEALTH OF NATIONS /Charles Ba,zerman -- 10 THE PROBLEM OF EDGEWORTH'S STYLE /Willie Henderson -- 11 THE PARADOX OF VALUE: SIX TREATMENTS IN SEARCH OF THE READER /John M. Swales -- Index.