Artifacts in the contemporary history of economics

Economic knowledge can be seen through its artifacts - relational objects that enable and structure the practice of economics. And so is the economy, as an object of knowledge, the result of the shifting meanings assigned to the making and remolding of artifacts. This essay presents a framework of the literature on epistemic artifacts, highlighting in particular the role of “boundary objects” that are sufficiently flexible in relating different knowledge communities. As an example of such an object that is constitutive for the conception of “the economy”, I discuss the Harvard Economic Research Project, its input-output tables in particular. How were the relevant statistical data created, how did they fit into the typologies, how did the computer intervene into their creation, and what happened when they disseminated in other communities?.