Pragmatic Socioeconomics: A Way Towards New Findings on Sources of (Housing) Market Instability

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this paper, we aim to define basic principles of pragmatic socioeconomics that may create a more solid interdisciplinary bridge between sociology and mainstream economics in the study of economic behaviour. The merit of this new concept demonstrates itself in the results of our research on the impact of social norms on home-buying behaviour and the consequences that such behaviour has for the operation of the housing market and housing price trends. That research demonstrates that interdisciplinary economic sociology may significantly enrich contemporary knowledge about housing price volatility – a phenomenon which increasingly determines social and economic stability in the world. Middle-range interdisciplinary research following the concept of pragmatic socioeconomics introduced in this paper is not limited to housing issues and may help fill in gaps in our knowledge of how markets operate in general.