Mainstream Economics and Sense-Making

摘要

This work presents a semiotic approach to the economy, underlining thatany economic phenomena is at the same time a communicative act as it is contingentto sense-making.The article discusses this topic by focusing on a specificphenomenon studied by economics: the underground economy. It shows that theconceptualization of the underground economy in terms of sense-making processesoffers a thought-provoking perspective for theoretical development. More in general,the discussion proposed makes it clear that in order to deepen our vision ofeconomic phenomena in a more thoughtful and realistic way we need to rethinkthese phenomena as being reciprocally and circularly embedded in the semiotic flowof life. The economy is within sense-making and it is shaped by it; at the same timesense-making is within the economy, as its semiotic substance.