The Philosophy of Economics
An Anthology

This volume, explores the nature of economics as a science, including classic texts and newer essays.

Daniel M. Hausman (Author)

9780521883504, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 December 2007

536 pages, 1 table
22.9 x 16.1 x 3.4 cm, 0.95 kg

An anthology of works on the philosophy of economics, including classic texts and essays exploring specific branches and schools of economics. Completely revamped, this edition contains new selections, a revised introduction and a bibliography. The volume contains 26 chapters organized into five parts: (I) Classic Discussions, (II) Positivist and Popperian Views, (III) Ideology and Normative Economics, (IV) Branches and Schools of Economics and Their Methodological Problems and (V) New Directions in Economic Methodology. It includes crucial historical contributions by figures such as Mill, Marx, Weber, Robbins, Knight, and Veblen and works by most of the leading contemporary figures writing on economic methodology, including five Nobel Laureates in Economics.

Part I. Classic Discussions: 1. On the definition and method of political economy John Stuart Mill
2. Objectivity and understanding in economics Max Weber
3. The nature and significance of economic science Lionel Robbins
4. Economics and human action Frank Knight
5. Philosophical foundations of economics: three texts Karl Marx
6. The limitations of marginal utility Thorstein Veblen
Part II. Positivist and Popperian Views: 7. The methodology of positive economics Milton Friedman
8. Testability and approximation Herbert Simon
9. Why look under the hood? Daniel M. Hausman
10. Popper and Lakatos in economic methodology D. Wade Hands
Part III. Ideology and Normative Economics: 11. Science and ideology Joseph Schumpeter
12. Welfare propositions of economics and interpersonal comparisons of utility Nicholas Kaldor
13. The philosophical foundations of mainstream normative economics Daniel M. Hausman and Michael S. McPherson
14. Why is cost-benefit analysis so controversial? Robert Frank
15. Capability and well-being Amartya Sen
Part IV. Branches and Schools of Economics and their Methodological Problems: 16. Econometrics as observation: the Lucas critique and the nature of econometric inference Kevin Hoover
17. Does macroeconomics need microfoundations? Kevin Hoover
18. Economics in the laboratory Vernon Smith
19. Neuroeconomics: using neuroscience to make economic predictions Colin F. Camerer
20. The market as a creative process James M. Buchanan and Viktor J. Vanberg
21. What is the essence of institutional economics? Geoffrey Hodgson
Part V. New Directions in Economic Methodology: 22. The rhetoric of this economics Deirdre McCloskey
23. Realism Uskali Mäki
24. What has realism got to do with it? Tony Lawson
25. Feminism and economics Julie Nelson
26. Credible worlds: the status of theoretical models in economics Robert Sugden.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], Economic theory & philosophy [KCA], Economics [KC], Political science & theory [JPA], History of ideas [JFCX], History of Western philosophy [HPC]