Performatividade da ciência econômica: esclarecendo os termos e estabelecendo pontes

The commonsensical view of what “performativity thesis” means sees economics making the world more than just discribing it. Performativity is a disputed idea wich has been largely debated and criticized by social scientists. Those critiques sometimes obliviate its theoretical import and meaning, either by misunderstanding its message or by denying its potential for delivering that message: in a complex social reality, how theories create, fashion (or, in our view, have effects in) the same reality they are aiming to analyse or describe. This paper deals with practices and claims by economic theorists, using the performativity thesis. Economists usually build models pursuing to catch reality but, in the same effort, they try to fashion individuals’ and institutions’ behavior (and sometimes they are deeply affected). Institutions and individuals’ behavior consistently interact by leaning on theories. Our contribution to this debate is to point out effects flowing reversely, from social structures to economic theory.