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EXPLAINING ECONOMIC CRISES: ARE THERE COLLECTIVE REPRESENTATIONS? Paul Thagard University of Waterloo pthagard@uwaterloo.ca Philosophy Department, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1 Draft 4, June, 2010; to appear in Episteme , a Journal of Social Epistemology. Abstract This paper uses the economic crisis of 2008 as a case study to examine the explanatory validity of collective mental representations. Distinguished economists such as Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz attribute collective beliefs, desires, intentions, and emotions to organizations such as banks and governments. I argue that the most plausible interpretation of these attributions is that they are metaphorical pointers to a complex of multilevel social, psychological, and neural mechanisms. This interpretation also applies to collective knowledge in science: scientific communities do not literally have collective representations, but social mechanisms do make important contributions to scientific knowledge. INTRODUCTION In 2008, a major crisis took place that initiated the most severe economic downturn since the great depression of the 1930s. Some economists have offered explanations of why this crisis and others occurred based on the collective mental representations of the organizations involved, including the relevant banks, governments, and regulatory agencies. For example, some economists say that the desires of investment banks to make large profits and their beliefs that real estate prices would continue rising led to a