Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-17T23:55:53.857Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Case Study of Normal Research in Theoretical Economics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2008

Hans Lind
Affiliation:
University of Stockholm

Extract

Theoretical works in economics usually have a core consisting of proofs that a “model-economy” has certain properties. The economist constructs a model that can be looked on as a description of an economy, and then proves that certain relations hold in this economy and/or that certain relations in this economy depend on certain specific characteristics. The model-economy is usually described as simplified or idealized.

Type
Essays
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Arrow, K., and Hahn, F. H.. 1971. General Competitive Equilibrium. Amsterdam: North Holland.Google Scholar
Barr, W. F. 1971. “A Syntactic and Semantic Analysis of Idealizations in Science.” Philosophy of Science 38:258–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumol, W. J. 1966. “Economic Models and Mathematics.” In The Structue of Economic Science, edited by Krupp, S. R., pp. 88102. Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Boland, L. 1984. “Methodology: Reply.” American Economic Review 74:795–97.Google Scholar
Caldwell, B. 1982. Beyond Positivism: Economic Methodology in the Twentieth Century. London: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Cross, R. 1984. “Methodology in Economics.” Scottish Journal of Political Economy 31: 100–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Debreu, G. 1959. Theory of Value. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Dixit, A., and Norman, V.. 1980. Theory of International Trade. London: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, M. 1953. “The Methodology of Positive Economics.” In Essays in Positive Economics, pp. 343. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hacking, I. 1983. Representing and Intervening. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamminga, B. 1982. “Neoclassical Theory Structure and Theory Development.” In Philosophy of Economics, edited by Stegmüller, W., Balzer, W., and Spohn, W., pp. 115. Berlin: Springer Verlag.Google Scholar
Hands, D. W. 1985. “The Structuralist View of Theories: A Review Essay.” Economics and Philosophy 1:303–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jevons, W. S. 1970 (first ed. 1871). The Theory of Political Economy. Harmodsworth: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Kuhn, T. S. 1962. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Laymon, R. 1985. “Idealization and the Testing of Theories by Experimentation.” In Observation, Experiment and Hypothesis in Modern Physical Theory, edited by Achinstein, P. and Hannaway, O.; pp. 147–73. Cambridge: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Lind, H. 1990. Tanken Bakom Tänkta Ekonomier. Stockholm: Akademeja.Google Scholar
McCloskey, D. 1983. “The Rhetoric of Economics.” Journal of Economic Literature 21: 481517.Google Scholar
McCloskey, D. 1985. The Rhetoric of Economics. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Musgrave, A. 1981. “‘Unreal Assumptions’ in Economic Theory: The F-twist Untwisted.” Kyklos 34:377–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mäki, U. 1989. “On the Problem of Realism in Economics.” Ricerche Economiche 43: 176–98.Google Scholar
Nickell, S. J. 1978. The Investment Decision of Firms. Oxford: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nowak, L. 1980. The Structure of Idealization. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rorry, R. 1979. Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Rudner, R. 1966. Philosophy of Social Science, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Samuelson, P. A. 1947. Foundations of Economic Analysis. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Samuelson, P. A. 1952. “Dynamic Process Analysis.” In A Survey of Contemporary Economics, edited by Ellis, H., pp. 352–87. Homewood: Richard D. Irwin.Google Scholar
Samuelson, P. A. 1959. “A Modern Treatment of the Ricardian Economy: Part I.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 74:135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, H. 1963. “Problems of Methodology – Discussion.” American Economic Review 53:229–31.Google Scholar
Suppe, F., editor. 1977, The Structure of Scientific Theories, 2nd ed.Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Townsend, R. 1988. “Models as Economies.” Economic Journal 98:124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walras, L. 1954 (first ed. 1874). Elements of Pure Economics. Homewood: Orion.Google Scholar
Varian, H., and Gibbard, A.. 1978. “Economic Models.” Journal of Philosophy 75:664–83.Google Scholar
Weintraub, E. R. 1985. General Equilibrium Analysis: Studies in Appraisal. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar