Abstract
The methodology of economics concerns the principles underlying economic argumentation. Though systematic reflections on the subject go back at least to the 19th century, the methodology of economics emerged as a recognizable field, at the boundaries of economics, philosophy and science studies, only in the 1980s. This article outlines the way the field developed and its current position.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Backhouse, R.E. 1997. The methodology of economics: Nineteenth-century British contributions, 6 vols. London and Bristol: Routledge & Thoemmes Press.
Backhouse, R.E., and S.G. Medema. 2007. Defining economics: Robbins’s essay in theory and practice. Working paper. http://ssrn.com/abstract=969994. Accessed 19 May 2007.
Blaug, M. 1980. The methodology of economics: How economists explain, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Cairnes, J.E. 1857. The character and logical method of political economy. London: Macmillan, 1888.
Caldwell, B.J. 1982. Beyond positivism: Economic methodology in the twentieth century. London: Allen & Unwin.
Caldwell, B.J. 1993. The philosophy and methodology of economics, 3 vols. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Friedman, M. 1953. The methodology of positive economics. In Essays in positive economics, ed. M. Friedman. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Goldfarb, R. 1997. Now you see it, now you don’t: Emerging contrary results in economics. Journal of Economic Methodology 4: 221–244.
Hands, D.W. 2001. Reflection without rules: Economic methodology and contemporary science theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hausman, D.M. 1992. The inexact and separate science of economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hausman, D.M. 1994. The philosophy of economics: An anthology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hoover, K.D. 2001a. The methodology of empirical macroeconomics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hoover, K.D. 2001b. Causality in economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hutchison, T.W. 1938. The significance and basic postulates of economic theory. London: Macmillan.
Jevons, W.S. 1873. The principles of science: A treatise on logic and scientific method, 2nd edn. London: Macmillan, 1877.
Jevons, W.S. 1871. The theory of political economy, 2nd edn. London: Macmillan, 1879.
Keynes, J.N. 1890. The scope and method of political economy. London: Macmillan, 1917.
Koopmans, T.C. 1957. Three essays on the state of economic science. New York: McGraw Hill.
Latsis, S.J. 1976. Method and appraisal in economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Leslie, T.E.C. 1879. Essays on political and moral philosophy. Dublin: Hodges, Foster & Figgis.
Menger, C. 1883. Investigations into the method of the social sciences with special reference to economics. Trans. F.J. Nock. New York: New York University Press, 1985.
Mill, J.S. 1843. A system of logic. The collected works of John Stuart Mill, vols 7–8, ed. J.M. Robson. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1974.
Mill, J.S. 1844. Essays on some unsettled questions of political economy. In The collected works of John Stuart Mill, vol. 4, ed. J.M. Robson. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1967.
Reder, M.W. 1999. Economics: The culture of a controversial science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Robbins, L.C. 1932. An essay on the nature and significance of economic science. London: Macmillan, 1935.
Smyth, R.L. 1962. Essays in economic method: Selected papers read to Section F of the British Association for the advancement of science, 1860–1913. London: Duckworth.
Stewart, I. 1979. Reasoning and method in economics. New York: McGraw Hill.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Backhouse, R.E. (2018). Methodology of Economics. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2175
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2175
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95188-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences