Introduction: on the role of a generalist journal

Economists commonly specialize in some limited parts of the general field. This is a necessity, due to the complexity of the different issues, the amount of literature available on each of them and the possibility of recourse to different analytical or statistical tools. However, specialization has its drawbacks. Quite often, specialists in the fields of, for instance, labour economics or industrial organization, utilize tools such as the aggregate production function or Marshallian U-shaped cost curves for the firm and the industry; tools which any specialist in abstract theory knows to have been proved faulty. Again, quite often econometric exercises rely on implicit, forgotten assumptions which if duly recognized would deprive the results of any meaning with regard to the interpretation of real world events. The risks of field specialization are commonly countered by the existence of generalist journals, such as the present one.