A Final Appraisal

Abstract

The time has come to review the main points of Heilbroner’s economic method. Let me begin with an innocent question. Is Heilbroner an economist? If we define an economist as one who practices the science of ‘economics’ the answer is no. He certainly does not employ the standard methods of the modern science of economics. We have previously seen that Heilbroner openly questions the relevance of this approach. In fact he has gone as far as saying economic science can actually veil any true understanding of the problems. The typical methods employed by the profession direct our attention to the symptoms of the economic problem and not the cause. Surface price fluctuations are an epiphenomenon; the real problems lie below the surface. The real problems reside deep within the nature and logic of the capitalist system. However, while Heilbroner is not an economist who is cut from the same cloth as modern reductionist theorists, he is an economist in that he is a practitioner of ‘political economy’.