Advances in Economic Methodology series – serie

This highly original new book examines the scientific status of economics from the perspective of practising economists. It studies how they evaluate their theories, the relationship between those theories and the phenomena they are intended to represent, and the philosophy, methodology and scientific credentials of economics. It examines the tension between economics as the logic of rational choice and as a predictive science, that is reason and reality respectively.It surveys the five most influential schools of thought in the methodology of economics, with special emphasis on theory appraisal: logical positivism, instrumentalism, a priorism, scientific realism and rhetorical analysis. Professor Fox assesses the extent to which economists have followed the precepts and consequences of their methodological position. He extends the discussion to consider the purpose of such economic inquiry, the scope of application and the appropriate structure of economic theory, as the legitimate sources of economic knowledge. In conclusion he argues that a resolution of existing and emerging methodological controversies in economics must begin with a better understanding of the various voices within the discipline.Intended as an introduction to the major schools of thought in economics, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of economics, philosophy and economic methodology.

This engaging and intelligent book provides an accessible, down to earth assessment of the role of formalism and rigour in economics.Professor Mayer argues that there is room in economics for both highly formalised theory and for the less formal theory that predominates in the natural sciences. But economists generally fail to distinguish between these two types of theory. As a result, they often act as if the strength of an argument depends on the strength of its strongest link. They misallocate effort, polishing those parts of the argument that tend to be formalised, while paying insufficient attention to the others. Drawing on public choice theory, Mayer shows how this emphasis on the strongest link has distorted research particularly in new classical theory. He advocates stricter econometric testing, showing that many procedures currently used are only soft tests.

Truth and Progress in Economic Knowledge provides a new perspective on economic methodology, specifically addressing progress in economic knowledge. This important investigation argues that economic methodology is developed through analysing economics, not through imposing a framework developed in other sciences.Roger Backhouse begins his discussion by defending economic methodology both against economists who object to it on practical grounds and post-modern critics who argue that the notion of methodology makes no sense. He then explores the concept of progress, drawing on ideas from Kuhn, the notion of pragmatism and the Popperian tradition. The discussion develops to examine theoretical economics, considering Lakatos's concept of informal mathematics, analysing replication in economics and the use of econometrics and informal empirical methods to test economic theories. The author argues that replication is not simply an econometric problem, but a problem for economics, as it involves both the nature of economic theory and the way in which economists use economic results.This new approach to economic methodology will be of special interest to academics, philosophers with an interest in economics and social sciences, and students of economic methodology.

In Classical Economic Man, Allen Oakley argues that two of the fathers of modern economics espoused methodological strategies which rejected the concept of ‘economic man’ and gave primacy to the human origins of economic phenomena.Adam Smith and J.S. Mill are shown to have been sensitive to the need for a pluralistic methodology in economics, constructed in accordance with its demands as a strictly human science that must contend with the contingencies of situated human conduct. Each went on to explicitly confront this in their theoretical arguments and in the design of their economic policy strategies. Drawing extensively on the original literature, Professor Oakley demonstrates that Smith’s approach through moral philosophy, and Mill’s through psychology and the philosophy of science, alerted them to the problems of giving proper representation to human agents in formal, scientific analyses. Smith and Mill, it is argued, rejected a classical orthodoxy that required methodology to be driven by the ambition to emulate the epistemology of the physical sciences. Scholars and students of the history of economic methodology and doctrines will welcome this important study which builds upon the original arguments, extending the interpretation to include often neglected details about the nature of classical methodology and its use of the concept of the ‘economic man’.

Johannes Klant's seminal work rests upon the analysis of the logical structure of economic theories and addresses the long-standing problem of the nature of economics by making a distinction between basic theories and specific models. The Nature of Economic Thought brings together in one volume Professor Klant's seminal work on the philosophy and methodology of economics. After a brief description of the history of economics and its position as science, art and philosophy, the book offers discussion of the logical structure of economic theories, Milton Friedman's use of metaphor and John Maynard Keynes's methodology including his view on the intuitive process and his adherence to Marshallian instrumentalism. The final paper presents an historical analysis of the natural order ideal in economics and critically assesses the approaches of Max Weber and Karl Popper.Always rigorous and cogent, the essays in this volume will be welcomed by the growing numbers of scholars interested in economic methodology and the history of economics thought.

Models and Reality in Economics is an important contribution to the philosophy of economics and the conduct of inquiry in economics. It examines what economists do and what economics is about. The book opens with a critical discussion of the work of McCloskey and the rhetorical approach to understanding economics. It then goes on to address the question of whether economics is a science. In answering this question the author examines three main concepts: first, whether economics meets a methodological standard, concluding that if the standard is not reached then it is a non-science; secondly, whether economics has a certain kind of content, such as a body of fundamental laws; and finally, whether it includes ideal theories or hypotheses which omit certain real world complications. From this discussion, the author suggests that the rhetorical approach and the question of whether economics is a science should be replaced with the idea that models are the central foundation of economic inquiry. He goes on to discuss the character of economic models and the idea that much economic thinking is concerned with the construction of models to resolve conceptual problems and explain real world economic phenomena. The book sheds new light on existing methodology and proposes new areas for future research.Models and Reality in Economics will be welcomed by those interested in the developments in economic methodology and philosophy, and those concerned with the progress and prospects of economics in general.

This highly original new book examines the scientific status of economics from the perspective of practising economists. It studies how they evaluate their theories, the relationship between those theories and the phenomena they are intended to represent, and the philosophy, methodology and scientific credentials of economics. It examines the tension between economics as the logic of rational choice and as a predictive science, that is reason and reality respectively.It surveys the five most influential schools of thought in the methodology of economics, with special emphasis on theory appraisal: logical positivism, instrumentalism, a priorism, scientific realism and rhetorical analysis. Professor Fox assesses the extent to which economists have followed the precepts and consequences of their methodological position. He extends the discussion to consider the purpose of such economic inquiry, the scope of application and the appropriate structure of economic theory, as the legitimate sources of economic knowledge. In conclusion he argues that a resolution of existing and emerging methodological controversies in economics must begin with a better understanding of the various voices within the discipline.Intended as an introduction to the major schools of thought in economics, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of economics, philosophy and economic methodology.

This stimulating and authoritative book features original essays from leading scholars in the discipline - each of whom addresses the question: how should economists do economics? What emerges is a diverse, constructive commentary on how economics is done and how it should be done.Leading thinkers from a wide variety of perspectives and fields address issues such as the scope of economics, the corpus of theory and its stature, the process of theory construction, the place of mathematical formalism, the role of quantitative analysis, the place of institutions in economic analysis, and, inter alia, technical methods of research. Foundations of Research in Economics: How do Economists do Economics? brings together some of the leading figures from many different schools of thought. This volume ranges across all aspects of professional discourse, ensuring that it will be widely read by economists active in many different areas of research while being of particular interest to economic theorists, methodologists and historians of economics.