Impacts of economic crises on the mainstream economic theory: Destruction, renewal and new theories

The well-known proposition states that economic theories have been transformed in the course of time. The same transformation is also valid for the mainstream economic theories. In the literature on the history of economic theories the underlying elements of this transformation have been sought. But political, intellectual and scientific foundations, also economic crises have distinguished between these elements. Considering these elements the possibility of reconstruction for the history of the mainstream economic theory have been questioned. Mainstream economic theories are transformed by the economic crisis through a two phase process, namely destruction and construction. Firstly the transformation atmosphere which originated from the economic crisis takes place, and secondly the discussions intended for the destruction of pre-crisis and the construction of post-crisis mainsteam economic theory are justified with scientific, political and intellectual foundations. Thus the economic crisis becomes the leading motive in bringing the economic theories into the mainstream stage and in the transformation of the mainstream economic theory. Although this schema subdivides the mainstream theorizing process, it is complicated to draw a sharp contrast and disaggregate between the impact areas of scientific, political and intellectual foundations. Because the request for theoretical transformation by theoreticians in a crisis driven environment aims for an approval by different justifications such as empirical consistency, theoretical rigorousness, political urgency and intellectual ground. Throughout the one-hundred and fifty year period the transformation of mainstream economic theory has been directed by the help of these elements in a way of operating with varying scales and moving to other's realm of impact. In conclusion, in order to explain the history of mainstream economics the criteria should be consistent with its definition. Then this criteria should be the commonness, in the meaning of becoming widespread and mainstream, instead of the orthodox-heterodox dichotomy. Keywords: Mainstream Economic Theory, Economic Crises, Theoretical Destruction, Theoretical Construction, Theoretical Transformation, Scientific Foundations, Intellectual Foundations, Political Foundations.