Forging a new alliance between economics and engineering

The economics–engineering nexus: response to the commentaries

“…It was a great pleasure to read the insightful comments on my paper by Richard Adelstein, Silvano Cincotti, César García-Díaz, Adam Fforde, Robert Hébert, Cyrille Rigolot and Peter Swann. I am grateful to them for their kindness, but above all for the care with which they examined, criticized and developed what I tried to do by investigating the history and perspective of the intriguing relationships between economics and engineering (Mariotti, 2021 ). These colleagues discussed a wide range of topics and presented interesting and inspiring ideas and suggestions.…”

“…In Mariotti ( 2021 ), I investigated the historical evolution of the economics–engineering nexus since the contribution of Jules Dupuit and the French school of econo-engineers to the foundation of neoclassical economics in the nineteenth century. I identified three paradigms—economics “ for / and / as ” engineering—whose dynamics and interweaving allow us to understand how the two disciplines have become related to each other over time.…”

“…However, agreeing with the perniciousness of its diffusion in the economic field, I discussed both the limits of the “economist as an engineer” paradigm, epistemologically design-oriented, and the dire consequences of a brotherhood between AI scientists/engineers and mainstream economists in the name of perfect neoclassical rationality and progress toward creating the mythical perfectly rational agent, i.e., the machina economica . In fact, the economic theory has been extremely reluctant to accept the implications of the new complexity, being somewhat inclined to associate sophisticated mathematical modeling with a reductionist approach, i.e., borrowing «some promising concepts and tools without changing their foundations and ideological commitments» (Mariotti, 2021 , p. 565). I confirm my conviction that in our present times, this is the very engineering mentality that we should fight against, both at a research level, and at all teaching levels.…”

“…The memory and the analysis of the figure of Frederick Taylor, engineer and founder of scientific management, proposed in Adelstein ( 2021 ) would be enough to remove any doubt about the existence of a variety of engineers with their fingers in the pie of social processes. Generalizing, García-Díaz ( 2021 ) refers to academics and professionals who consider systems as human activity systems—industrial and systems engineers—and I would add management engineers, as well as environmental, energy and sustainability engineers (Mariotti, 2021 ; see also Sect. 7 ).…”

Facing the complexity of the economy: an opportunity for the new alliance between economics and engineering

“…Sergio Mariotti (2021) explores the relationship between economics and engineering. The strategy is, first, to start from the historical perspective on the relationships between economics and engineering and, second, to identify the paradigms for the economics-engineering nexus.…”