Explorations in Economic Methodology

This work by Roger Backhouse on economic methodology is a collection of essays that seeks to clarify and respond to the issues raised by mid-1990s' literature which argued that methodology is a fruitless exercise.
Economics is an established academic discipline, yet its methods and style of argumentation are far from being well understood. In the mid-1990s attempts have been made to understand economics through applying ideas from the philosophy of science, and especially from the writings of Popper, Kuhn and Lakatos and through economic rhetoric. The result has been controversial, with one school arguing that methodology is a fruitless exercise. This collection of essays seeks to both clarify and respond to the issues raised by the mid-1990s' literature and argues that methodology is an essential activity. The book begins with an application of Lakatos' methodology of scientific research programmes to contemporary macroeconomics and subsequent chapters go on to discuss questions raised by this approach. These argue that although the methodology has severe limitations, it nevertheless provides a useful starting point. After discussing, the approaches to methodology of some practising economists, the final chapters consider the perspectives on economics that result from pragmatism and empirical philosophy of science. This book should be of use to researchers and students interested in economi