۱- Introduction

۲- Why family business should matter in economics

۳- Method

۴- Results

۵- Introducing family business into economic discourse

۶- Concluding remarks

References

Abstract

Family firms account for a substantial share of economic activity and deviate from standard economic assumptions on firm behavior. However, little is known about how these firms are represented in economic theory. This article examines the inclusion of family business in the curricula of economics doctoral programs in the United States and Sweden as well as professors’ and textbook authors’ views and research on family business. Textbooks, articles and course offerings used in doctoral programs are considered to indicate the state of established knowledge in the field. The findings show that family business is not included in the examined curricula. Furthermore, professors and authors do not publish research on family business and generally do not see a need to incorporate it into economic theory. This article concludes that family business is excluded from ‘core’ economic theory due to a lack of paradigmatic pluralism, axiomatic incompatibility, path dependency, institutional bias and data constraints. Lastly, it is speculated that integration of family business theory into standard economic modeling is likely to occur outside prestigious universities due to path dependency in research.

Introduction

Family firms are of significant economic importance and exhibit different behavioral characteristics from non-family firms (e.g., Astrachan & Shanker, 2003; Bennedsen & Foss, 2015; Donckels & Fröhlich, 1991). Family business could therefore be expected to be an integral part of economic analysis. Nevertheless, there is currently little knowledge on the representation of family business in economic theory. However, although economics has traditionally been concerned with firm, industry and market dynamics, the authors of this paper have long noted a disproportional absence of family business research in the field, compared to its neighboring disciplines of business administration and finance. Given the economic significance of family business, this omission is likely to be detrimental for our understanding of economic activity (e.g., Andersson, Johansson, Karlsson, Lodefalk, & Poldahl, 2018a; Astrachan & Shanker, 2003; La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, & Shleifer, 1999). Hence, in order to further current economic discourse, it is vital to further explore the use of family business concepts in economics. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it aims to examine the prevalence of family business within doctoral programs in economics. Second, it aims to analyze the views among teaching professors and textbook authors regarding the role of family business in economic theory, as well as whether they have published peer-reviewed articles on this topic. Doctoral programs are used as indicators of the current state of established knowledge in the field, as they reflect what is regarded as necessary knowledge in order to participate in the academic discussion. In practice, this implies the study of neoclassical, or “mainstream”, economics as it dominates research and education.1 This study concerns the academic year 2014–۲۰۱۵ and covers the top ten doctoral programs in economics in the United States (U.S.) and all universities in Sweden that offer a full doctoral program in economics. The analysis covers the syllabi of micro- and macroeconomics courses, as well as courses in industrial organization. Concepts that are central to theory are expected to be included in textbook indices; many references to a key word indicates that the term is considered to be of relative importance in the presented theory, while missing keywords indicate that the topic is not covered to a significant extent.