Economics Is not Always Performative: Some Limits for Performativity

International audienceThe phenomenon of performativity has recently produced debates about the status of the economic discourse. This paper aims to discuss the subjectivist idea that if economics “performs” (shapes) the social reality, rather than merely reflecting it, then every theory can be “true”. My main goal is to point out the limits of performativity in three ways. First, no theory can be performative because some do not produce empirical landmarks for the agents. Second, the social institutions restrict the performativity. Third, I emphasize the necessity for a theory to be self-fulfilling. This article is a prelude to a new kind of performative studies based on an original definition: a theory performs the world if it implies a behavioral regularity which leads to the general coordination between agents. That is to say, if it becomes a convention à la David Lewis