The Methodology of Economics
Or, How Economists Explain

This is a revised and updated edition of a classic work on the methodology of economics.

Mark Blaug (Author)

9780521436786, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 31 July 1992

316 pages
22.7 x 15.1 x 2.1 cm, 0.431 kg

'It is beyond doubt that Blaug's book is one of the few really outstanding works in the recent literature on economic methodology.' Andrea Salanti, Ricerche Economiche

This book is an examination of the nature of economic explanation. The opening chapters introduce current thinking in the philosophy of science and review the literature on methodology. Professor Blaug then turns to the troublesome question of the logical status of welfare economics, giving the reader an understanding of the outstanding issues in the methodology of economics. This is followed by a series of case studies of leading economic controversies, which shows how controversies in economics may be illuminated by paying attention to questions of methodology. A final chapter draws the strands together and gives the author's view of what is wrong with modern economics. This book is a revised and updated edition of a classic work on the methodology of economics, in which Professor Blaug develops his discussion of the latest developments in macroeconomics, general equilibrium theory and international trade theory. A new section on the rationality postulate is also added.

Preface
Part I. What You Always Wanted to Know about the Philosophy of Science but Were Afraid to Ask: 1. From the received view to the views of Popper
2. From Popper to the new heterodoxy
Part II. The History of Economic Methodology: 3. The verifications, a largely nineteenth-century story
4. The falsifications, a wholly twentieth-century story
5. The distinction between positive and normative economics
Part III. A Methodological Appraisal of the Neoclassical Research Program: 6. The theory of consumer behaviour
7. The theory of fun
8. General equilibrium theory
9. Marginal productive theory
10. Switching, reswitching, and all that
11. The Heckscher-Ohlin theory of international trade
12. Keynesians versus monetarists
13. Human capital theory
14. The new economics of the family
15. The rationality postulate
Part IV. What Have We Now Learned about Economics?: 16. Conclusions
Glossary
Suggestions for further reading
Bibliography
Name index
Subject index.

Subject Areas: Economic theory & philosophy [KCA]