Philosophy 345/Economics 319

The Philosophy and Methodology of Economics

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Reading List

All readings, except Boumans and Davis, Economic Methodology, which you should purchase, are electronically accessible on direct links through the library or downloadable through links to a secure directory.  I will send the login and password information for the secure directory to registered members of the class by e-mail.  (If you need the login and password and don’t have it, please e-mail me.)  Exactly which readings are due each week can be found on the course website under the link Weekly Assignments.

 

Background

The readings in this section will help you to get your bearings in the course.  You should read them on your own as soon as possible in the course.

• Marcel Boumans and John Davis, Economic Methodology:  Understanding Economics as a Science.  Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK:  Palgrave Macmillan.
• Daniel Hausman, “Economic Methodology in a Nutshell,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 3(2), 1989, pp. 115-127.
• Daniel Hausman, “Appendix:  An Introduction to Philosophy of Science,” The Inexact and Separate Science of Economics.  Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, 1992, pp. 281-329. 

A. Classical Contributions to Economic Methodology

• Boumans and Davis, Economic Methodology, chapter 1 (excluding Focus sections) and chapter 2, Focus 2.1.
• John Stuart Mill, “On the Definition of Political Economy and the Method of Investigation Proper to It,” in Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy.
• John Neville Keynes, The Scope and Method of Political Economy, 4th edition, 1917.
• Lionel Robbins, The Nature and Significance of Economic Science (Part I, Part II), 1935.

B. Friedman and Positive Economics

• Boumans and Davis, Economic Methodology, chapter 2 (excluding Focus sections).
• Milton Friedman, “The Methodology of Positive Economics,” in Friedman, Essays in Positive Economics.  Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1953. 
• Daniel Hausman “Why Look Under the Hood?” in Essays on Philosophy and Economic Methodology.  Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, ch. 5 (pp. 70-74). 
• Uskali Mäki, “Unrealistic Assumptions and Unnecessary Confusions:  Rereading and Rewriting F53 as a Realist Statement,” in Uskali Mäki, editor, The Methodology of Positive Economics:  Reflections on the Milton Friedman Legacy.  Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, ch. 3 (pp. 90-116).

  

C. Popper and Falsificationism

• Boumans and Davis, Economic Methodology, chapter 3 (including Focus 3.1 and 3.3, but excluding Focus 3.2).
• Karl Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery, 1959, excerpts. 
• Karl Popper, “Science:  Conjectures and Refuations,” in Conjectures and Refutations.  London:  Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963, pp. 33-58. 
• Bruce Caldwell, “Clarifying Popper,” Journal of Economic Literature 29(1), March, pp. 1-33.

 

D. Popper and Situational Analysis

• Boumans and Davis, Economic Methodology, chapter 3, Focus 3.2.
• Karl Popper, “The Logic of the Social Sciences,” in T.W. Adorno, The Positivist Dispute in German Sociology.  London: Heinemann,1976, pp. 87-104.  .
• Noretta Koertge, “The Methodological Status of Popper’s Rationality Principle,” Theory and Decision 10, pp. 83-95.
• D. Wade Hands, “Karl Popper and Economic Methodology,” Economics and Philosophy 1(1), pp. 83-99. 
• Mark Blaug, “Comment on D. Wade Hands, ‘Karl Popper and Economic Methodology:  A New Look,” Economics and Philosophy 1(2), pp. 286-288.  

E. Kuhn and Scientific Revolutions

• Boumans and Davis, Economic Methodology , chapter 4, pp. 93-108 and Focus 4.2 and 4.3.
• Thomas Kuhn, “The Essential Tension:  Tradition and Innovation in Scientific Research,” in in Boyd, Casper, and Trout, editors, The Philosophy of Science, ch. 7. 
• Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 3rd ed.  Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1996:  Chapter V (“The Priority of Paradigms”) and Chapter IX (“The Nature and Necessity of Scientific Revolutions”).
• Martin Bronfenbrenner “The ‘Structure of Revolutions’ in Economic Thought,” History of Political Economy 2(1), 1971, pp. 136-151.
• A.W. Coats, “Is there a ‘Structure of Scientific Revolutions’ in Economics?” Kyklos 22(2), 1969, pp. 289-296.

F. Lakatos and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programs

• Boumans and Davis, Economic Methodology, chapter 4,  pp. 108-111 and Focus 4.1.
• Imré Lakatos, “Criticism and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes,” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, vol. 69, 1968, pp. 149-186.    

• Kevin D. Hoover, “Scientific Research Program or Tribe?  A Joint Appraisal of Lakatos and the New Classical Macroeconomics,” in Appraising Economic Theories:  Studies in the Application of the Methodology of Research Programs,  Mark Blaug and Neil de Marchi, editors.  Aldershot:  Edward Elgar, 1991.

 

G. Lakatos and Economics

• E. Roy Weintraub, “Appraising General Equilibrium Analysis,” Economics and Philosophy, vol. 1, no. 1, 1985, pp. 23-37.

• Richard Lipsey, “IS-LM, Keynesianism, and the New Classicism,” in Roger E. Backhouse and Andrea Salanti, editors, Macroeconomics and the Real World, Vol. 2:  Keynesian Economics, Unemployment, and Policy.  Oxford:  Oxford University Press, 2000, pp. 57-82.

• Roger Backhouse, “The Lakatosian Legacy in Economic Methodology,” in Backhouse, editor, New Directions in Economic Methodology.  London:  Routledge, 1994, pp. 173-191. 
• Mark Blaug, “Kuhn versus Lakatos or Paradigms versus Research Programmes in the History of Economics,” Spiro Latsis, editor, Method and Appraisal in Economics.  Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, 1976, pp. 149-180.  
• D. Wade Hands, “Popper and Lakatos in Economic Methodology,” in Uskali Mäki, Bo Gustafsson, and Christian Knudsen, editors, Rational Institutions and Economic Methodology.  London:  Routledge, 1993, pp. 61-75. 

 

H. Laws and Explanation in Economics – 1.

• Carl Hempel, “Laws and Their Role in Natural Explanation,” Philosophy of the Natural Sciences.  Englewood Cliffs, NJ:  Prentice-Hall, 1966; in Boyd, Casper, and Trout, editors, The Philosophy of Science, ch. 16. 
• Daniel Hausman, “Supply and Demand Explanations and Their Ceterius Paribus Clauses,” Review of Political Economy 2(2), July 1990, pp. 168-187. 

 

I. Laws and Explanation in Economics – 2.

• Nancy Cartwright, “Ceteris Paribus Laws and the Socio-economic Machine,” in the Dappled World.  Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, 1999, ch. 6 (pp. 137-151).
• Kevin D. Hoover, “Are There Macroeconomic Laws,” in The Methodology of Empirical Macroeconomics.  Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, ch. 2 (pp. 17-56). 

 

J. Models – 1

• Boumans and Davis, Economic Methodology , chapter 1, Focus 1.2.
• Mary Morgan, “Models,” in John Davis, D. Wade Hands and Uskali Mäki, editors, The Handbook of Economic Methodology.  Cheltenham:  Edward Elgar, 1998, pp. 316-321.
• Marcel Boumans, “Models,” in John Davis, Alain Marciano and Jochen Runde, The Elgar Companion to Economics and Philosophy.  Cheltenham:  Edward Elgar, 2004, pp. 260-282.
• Allan Gibbard and Hal Varian, “Economic Models,” Journal of Philosophy 75(11), 1978, pp. 664-677.

 

K. Models – 2

• Boumans and Davis, Economic Methodology , chapter 6, Focus 6.1.
• Robert Sugden, “Credible Worlds:  The Status of Theoretical Models in Economics,” Journal of Economic Methodology 7(1), 2000, pp. 1-31.
• Mary Morgan, “The Technology of Analytical Models:  Irving Fisher’s Monetary Worlds,” Philosophy of Science 64(supplement), December 1997, pp. S304-S314.

 

L. Realism

• Uskali Mäki, “Realism” and “Realisticness,” in John Davis, D. Wade Hands, and Mäki, editors, The Handbook of Economic Methodology.  Cheltenham:  Edward Elgar, 1998, pp. 404-413. 
• Ian Hacking, “Experimentation and Scientific Realism,” in in Boyd, Casper, and Trout, editors, The Philosophy of Science, ch. 13. 
• Daniel Hausman, “Problems with Realism about Economics,” Economics and Philosophy 14(2), 1998, pp. 185-213.
• Tony Lawson, “What Has Realism Got to Do With It,” Economics and Philosophy 15(2), 1999, pp. 269-282. 

 

M. Reductionism and Microfoundations

• Alan Garfinkel, “Reductionism,” in in Boyd, Casper, and Trout, editors, The Philosophy of Science, ch. 24. 
• John Watkins, “Methodological Individualism and Social Tendencies,” in in Boyd, Casper, and Trout, editors, The Philosophy of Science, ch. 39. 
• Maarten Janssen, “Microfoundations,” in John Davis, D. Wade Hands, and Mäki, editors, The Handbook of Economic Methodology.  Cheltenham:  Edward Elgar, 1998, pp. 307-310. 

 N. Value Judgments in Economics

• Boumans and Davis, Economic Methodology, chapter 7 (including Focus sections).
• Charles K. Wilber. “ Economics and Ethics,” in John Davis, D. Wade Hands and Uskali Mäki, editors, The Handbook of Economic Methodology.  Cheltenham:  Edward Elgar, 1998, pp. 138-142.
• A.W. Coats. “Economics as a Profession,” in John Davis, D. Wade Hands and Uskali Mäki, editors, The Handbook of Economic Methodology.  Cheltenham:  Edward Elgar, 1998, pp. 142-145.
• William S. Milberg. “Ideology,” in John Davis, D. Wade Hands and Uskali Mäki, editors, The Handbook of Economic Methodology.  Cheltenham:  Edward Elgar, 1998, pp.  243-246.
• Mark Blaug. “The Positive-Normative Distinction,’ in John Davis, D. Wade Hands and Uskali Mäki, editors, The Handbook of Economic Methodology.  Cheltenham:  Edward Elgar, 1998, pp. 370-374.

 

O. Experiments

• Boumans and Davis, Economic Methodology, chapter 2, Focus 2.3.
• Alan Nelson.  “Experimental Economics, John Davis, D. Wade Hands and Uskali Mäki, editors, The Handbook of Economic Methodology.  Cheltenham:  Edward Elgar, 1998, pp. 179-180.
• Francesco Guala.  “Experimentation in Economics,” in Uskali Mäki, editor.   Philosophy of Economics.  Amsterdam:  Elsevier, 2012, pp. 597-611 and 626-640.