Speaking of economics : how to get in the conversation / Arjo Klamer.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [187]-190) and index.

The strangeness of the discipline -- Economics is a conversation or, better, a bunch of conversations -- What it takes to be an academic dog, or the culture of the academic conversation -- It's the attention, stupid! -- A good scientific conversation, or contribution thereto, is truthful and meaningful and serves certain interests -- The art of economic persuasion: about rhetoric and all that -- Why disagreements among economists persist, why economists need to brace themselves for differences withing their simultaneous conversations and their conversations over time, and why they may benefit from knowing about classicism, modernism, and postmodernism -- How and why everyday conversations differ from academic ones and how and why academic conversations clash with political ones.