Adolfo García de la Sienra - Böcker

Economists have long grappled with the problem of how economic theories relate to empirical evidence: how can abstract mathematized theories be used to produce empirical claims? How are such theories applied to economic phenomena? What does it mean to “test” economic theories? This book introduces, explains, and develops a structural philosophy of economics which addresses these questions and provides a unifying philosophical/logical basis for a general methodology of economics.The book begins by introducing a rigorous view of the logical foundations and structure of scientific theories based upon the work of Alfred Tarski, Patrick Suppes, Karl Marx, and others. Using and combining their methods, the book then goes on to reconstruct important economic theories – including utility theory, game theory, Marxian economics, Sraffian economic theory, and econometrics – proving all the main theorems and discussing the key claims and the empirical applicability of each theory. Through these discussions, this book presents, in a systematic fashion, a general philosophy of economics grounded in the structural view.Offering rigorous formulations of important economic theories, A Structuralist Theory of Economics will be invaluable to all readers interested in the logic, philosophy, and methodology of economics. It will also appeal particularly to those interested in economic theory.

Mter the impressive collapseoftheSovietUnionand the Eastern European socialist countries, it is more pertinent than ever to recover the scientific legacy ofKarl Marx. This legacy is mainly (if not exclusively) constituted by his work in the field of eco- nomic theory. Marx's economic theory was intended by his au- thor as a scientific objective theory about the nature ofcapitalist economies, a theory that was going to serve as the foundation ofthe critique ofbourgeois political economy. His "laws" about the demise ofcapitalism, like the tendency ofthe profit rate to fall or the lawofthe cyclical crises, have been shown to hold un- der certain conditions but not in general. At any rate, it is likely that had not the industrialized countries changed the situation ofthe working class, and allowed some intervention ofthe State in the economy (especially after the Great Depression), capital- ism would have hardly survived, even though it is impossible to guess what kind of regime would have been instaurated in its place. The present book is concerned with the very foundations of Marx's economics, hence with the very foundations ofhis scien- tific legacy.I hope that after reading the book the reader will be convinced that Marx's scientific work was indeed serious and that this is the time to recover it as an important paradigm in INTRODUCTION 2 scientific research. I think that the reader will be convinced that Marx's economic theory is no less serious and mathematically tractable than, say, general equilibrium theory.

Economists have long grappled with the problem of how economic theories relate to empirical evidence: how can abstract mathematized theories be used to produce empirical claims? How are such theories applied to economic phenomena? What does it mean to “test” economic theories? This book introduces, explains, and develops a structural philosophy of economics which addresses these questions and provides a unifying philosophical/logical basis for a general methodology of economics.The book begins by introducing a rigorous view of the logical foundations and structure of scientific theories based upon the work of Alfred Tarski, Patrick Suppes, Karl Marx, and others. Using and combining their methods, the book then goes on to reconstruct important economic theories – including utility theory, game theory, Marxian economics, Sraffian economic theory, and econometrics – proving all the main theorems and discussing the key claims and the empirical applicability of each theory. Through these discussions, this book presents, in a systematic fashion, a general philosophy of economics grounded in the structural view.Offering rigorous formulations of important economic theories, A Structuralist Theory of Economics will be invaluable to all readers interested in the logic, philosophy, and methodology of economics. It will also appeal particularly to those interested in economic theory.

During his long career, Patrick Suppes has contributed significantly both to the sciences and to scientific philosophies. In this volume, an international group of Suppes' colleagues and collaborators builds upon his insights. Each of their essays is accompanied by a response from Suppes himself, which together create a uniquely engaging dialogue. Suppes and his peers explore a range of topics, from the relationship between science and philosophy.

This book provides a thorough and systematic presentation of the foundations of Nonstandard Analysis with applications to economic theory. Starting from scratch, from Ackermann's set theory, it moves carefully to Boolean algebra, first order logic, ultraproducts, nonstandard universes, the system of hyper-real numbers, nonstandard analysis proper (including a disquisition on topology relevant for economic theory), and, finally, nonstandard economics. The chapter on nonstandard economics includes a complete discussion and proof of Richter's theorem about the existence of a utility representation for every preference structure of cardinality up to that of the continuum. It contains proofs of the main methodological theorems for economic theory, mainly fixed point theorems and concludes by proving the existence of equilibria for social systems. Covering topics such as ontology, logic, and set theory, this book is of interest to broad range of philosophers of science, economists and mathematicians.