On the methodology of economics and the formalist revolution

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On the methodology of economics and the formalist revolution

Terence Hutchison

Edward Elgar Pub., c2000

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Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

This collection of essays examines the methodological problems confronting economists in the face of two major developments in the second half of the twentieth century. The first is the vast increase in the number and variety of writings on the methodology or 'philosophy' of economics, especially from those intensively specialising in methodology. This has led to the virtual breakdown in communication between methodologists and mainstream economists, with methodology becoming increasingly isolated from mainstream economics. The second major development has been what Benjamin Ward first called 'the formalist revolution' which he, not unjustifiably, described as 'more important than the Keynesian Revolution'. Professor Hutchison attempts to contribute to serious methodological analysis of this 'revolution' and, at the same time, suggests how communication between mainstream economists and methodologists might be improved.

Table of Contents

Contents: 1. Introduction: The Methodology of Economics and the Formalist Revolution 2. On the Relations Between Philosophy and Economics: Part I: Frontier Problems in an Era of Departmentalized and Internationalized 'Professionalism' Part II: To what Kind of Philosophical Problems should Economists Address Themselves? 3. On Prediction and Economic Knowledge 4. 'Crisis' in the 1970s: The Crisis of Abstraction 5. The Keynesian Revolution, Uncertainty, and Deductive General Theory 6. The Limitations of General Theories in Macroeconomics 7. Changing Aims in Economics 8. Ultra-deductivism from Nassau Senior to Lionel Robbins and Daniel Hausman 9. Two Cheers for Formalism?: No: One, at Most 10. From The Wealth of Nations to Modern General Equilibrium 'Theory': Methodological Comparisons and Contrasts Index

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