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The article reviews the book "Solidarity Economy: Building Alternatives for People and Planet," edited by Jenna Allard, Carl Davidson, and Julie Matthaei.

This question is of utmost importance as Michael Turk's I Otto Neurath and the History of Economics i is the first and hitherto only monograph-length treatment of Neurath and economics. Though charges against Neurath were leveled on various grounds, one of the main issues was that Neurath embraced the idea of planning as well: namely, that natural resources, their distribution, and their employment should be balanced and planned by scientific means. Neurath's papers and books are, however, often short on these references - mainly due to his (academically often not approved) writing style, but also possibly due to a lamentable lack of care - hence utilizing this method might mean missing the very point of Neurath. Nevertheless, Neurath was neither a number fetishist nor a hardheaded positivist (as Turk's descriptions would sometime suggest); he chose numbers only for the educational virtues and because they were more than useful to meet the requirements of structural and pictorial representation. [Extracted from the article]

To be more precise, Payson notes that academic economists find themselves in a self-perpetuating vicious circle, where the current leaders follow in the footsteps of past leaders and, having succeeded at doing so, expect the same from new economists who wish to join their ranks. While this work may not be penned as part of the academic economics field and thus may constitute a shrinking of the academic economics discipline, Payson is quick to note that there will also be opportunities for growth via term paper graders, test proctors, and content experts (chapter 5). While Payson hits on many important points in this second volume, and adeptly lays out a plan to move the academic economics discipline forward, he again overlooks the importance and potential ramifications of the divide between mainstream and heterodox economists. [Extracted from the article]