On the Purpose and Aims of the Journal of Contextual Economics

It is widely acknowledged today that the economy and the discipline of economics are in a state of flux. The collapse of socialism, the shift of the world economy’s center of gravity back to Asia, recurring financial and sovereign debt crises, and growing inequality – among other things – have shaken conventional understandings of economic and social processes. Familiar economic theories and policy convictions have been reexamined and found wanting, and economists have been forced to reintegrate society into their conceptions of economy. As editors, we wish to elaborate in this introductory statement on why we have chosen to give the venerable journal Schmollers Jahrbuch the new subtitle Journal of Contextual Economics. We will also try to define “contextual economics” and what approaches toward contextualized economic thinking are emerging within the discipline. At the same time we will make a Schmollers Jahrbuch 136 (2016), 1 – 14 Duncker & Humblot, Berlin