IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nea/journl/y2011i9p47-70.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic Methodology Today: a Review of Major Contributions

Author

Listed:
  • Boldyrev, I.

    (National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia)

Abstract

This review article considers the state of the art in the modern economic methodology. The structure of this branch of knowledge is briefly described, as well as its institutional organization. We also carry out a substantial classification of various problems and fields of research. We propose to distinguish two basic perspectives which will determine the situation in the field in future: logical-cognitivist and social-constructivist. It is shown, why we consider the latter perspective to be more interesting and promising one. We also examine in detail advantages and shortcomings of normative methodology which is supposed to set standards for a scientific research in economic theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Boldyrev, I., 2011. "Economic Methodology Today: a Review of Major Contributions," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, issue 9, pages 47-70.
    • Handle: RePEc:nea:journl:y:2011:i:9:p:47-70
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.econorus.org/repec/journl/2011-9-47-70r.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Donald Mackenzie & Fabian Muniesa & Lucia Siu, 2007. "Do Economists Make Markets? On the Performativity of Economics," Post-Print halshs-00149145, HAL.
    2. Kevin Hoover & Stephen Perez, 2001. "Three attitudes towards data mining," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 195-210.
    3. McCloskey, Donald N, 1983. "The Rhetoric of Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 481-517, June.
    4. Ariel Rubinstein, 2006. "Dilemmas of an Economic Theorist," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(4), pages 865-883, July.
    5. Hands,D. Wade, 2001. "Reflection without Rules," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521497152, September.
    6. Robert H. Frank & Thomas Gilovich & Dennis T. Regan, 1993. "Does Studying Economics Inhibit Cooperation?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 159-171, Spring.
    7. Wible James, 1998. "THE ECONOMICS OF SCIENCE, METHODOLOGY AND EPISTEMOLOGY AS IF ECONOMICS REALLY MATTER: Compte rendu de lecture par Emmanuel Martin," Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines, De Gruyter, vol. 8(4), pages 555-572, December.
    8. David Colander, 2018. "The Death Of Neoclassical Economics," Chapters, in: How Economics Should Be Done, chapter 5, pages 46-62, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. John B. Davis & Alain Marciano & Jochen Runde (ed.), 2004. "The Elgar Companion To Economics and Philosophy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2696.
    10. Klaes, Matthias, 2000. "The History of the Concept of Transaction Costs: Neglected Aspects," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 191-216, June.
    11. Sent,Esther-Mirjam, 2006. "The Evolving Rationality of Rational Expectations," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521027717, September.
    12. Thomas Mayer, 2002. "Improving communication in economics: a task for methodologists," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 77-84.
    13. Thráinn Eggertsson*, 1995. "On the economics of economics," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 201-210, May.
    14. Kevin D. Hoover, "undated". "Econometrics And Reality," Department of Economics 97-28, California Davis - Department of Economics.
    15. John B. Davis, 2007. "The turn in economics and the turn in economic methodology," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(3), pages 275-290.
    16. Bruno S. Frey, 2003. "Publishing as prostitution? — Choosing between one’s own ideas and academic success," Springer Books, in: Roger D. Congleton & Kai A. Konrad & Arye L. Hillman (ed.), 40 Years of Research on Rent Seeking 2, pages 749-767, Springer.
    17. Blume, Lawrence E. & Durlauf, Steven N., 2005. "The Economy As an Evolving Complex System III: Current Perspectives and Future Directions," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195162592.
    18. Dow, Sheila, 2002. "Economic Methodology: An Inquiry," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198776123.
    19. Ar. Rubinstein., 2008. "Dilemmas of an Economic Theorist," VOPROSY ECONOMIKI, N.P. Redaktsiya zhurnala "Voprosy Economiki", vol. 11.
    20. Ana C. Santos & João Rodrigues, 2009. "Economics as social engineering? Questioning the performativity thesis," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 33(5), pages 985-1000, September.
    21. Geoffrey M. Hodgson, 1999. "Evolution and Institutions," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1481.
    22. repec:bla:kyklos:v:48:y:1995:i:2:p:201-10 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Lucas, Robert Jr, 1976. "Econometric policy evaluation: A critique," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 19-46, January.
    24. Guala,Francesco, 2005. "The Methodology of Experimental Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521618618, September.
    25. Weintraub, E Roy, 1999. "How Should We Write the History of Twentieth-Century Economics?," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 15(4), pages 139-152, Winter.
    26. Shaun P. Hargreaves Heap, 2001. "Methodology now!," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 95-108.
    27. D. Wade Hands, 2003. "Did Milton Friedman's methodology license the Formalist Revolution?," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(4), pages 507-520.
    28. Brunner, Karl & Meltzer, Allan H., 1976. "The Phillips curve," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 1-18, January.
    29. Ulrich Witt, 2008. "What is specific about evolutionary economics?," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 18(5), pages 547-575, October.
    30. Kevin D. Hoover & Soren Johansen & Katarina Juselius, 2008. "Allowing the Data to Speak Freely: The Macroeconometrics of the Cointegrated Vector Autoregression," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 251-255, May.
    31. Richard Arena & Sheila Dow & Matthias Klaes, 2009. "Open Economics: Economics in relation to other disciplines," Post-Print halshs-00727206, HAL.
    32. A. Libman., 2007. "Modern Economic Theory: The Main Tendencies," VOPROSY ECONOMIKI, N.P. Redaktsiya zhurnala "Voprosy Economiki", vol. 3.
    33. Caldwell, Bruce J, 1991. "Clarifying Popper," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 29(1), pages 1-33, March.
    34. Kincaid, Harold & Ross, Don (ed.), 2009. "The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Economics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195189254.
    35. Mirowski, Philip & Sent, Esther-Mirjam (ed.), 2002. "Science Bought and Sold," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226538563, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sheila C. Dow, 2012. "Variety of Methodological Approach in Economics," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Foundations for New Economic Thinking, chapter 13, pages 210-230, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Gebhard Kirchgässner, 2015. "Wissenschaftlicher Fortschritt in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften: Einige Bemerkungen," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 135(2), pages 209-248.
    3. Andrea Salanti, 2020. "All That Glitters Is Not Gold: The Case of Mainstream Pluralism," Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Economics, History and Political Science, Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, Torino (Italy), vol. 54(2), pages 287-310, December.
    4. Yalcintas, Altug, 2013. "The Oomph in economic philosophy: a bibliometric analysis of the main trends, from the 1960s to the present," MPRA Paper 44191, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. John B. Davis & D. Wade Hands, 2011. "Introduction: The Changing Character of Economic Methodology," Chapters, in: John B. Davis & D. Wade Hands (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Recent Economic Methodology, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Christopher L. Gilbert & Duo Qin, 2005. "The First Fifty Years of Modern Econometrics," Working Papers 544, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    7. Kristin Asdal & Béatrice Cointe, 2022. "Writing good economics: how texts 'on the move' perform the lab and discipline of experimental economics," Post-Print hal-03429169, HAL.
    8. Uhlig, Harald, 2012. "Economics and reality," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 29-41.
    9. Urban, Janina & Rommel, Florian, 2020. "German economics: Its current form and content," Working Paper Serie des Instituts für Ökonomie 56, Hochschule für Gesellschaftsgestaltung (HfGG), Institut für Ökonomie.
    10. Christopher L. Gilbert & Duo Qin, 2005. "The First Fifty Years of Modern Econometrics," Working Papers 544, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    11. Banzhaf, H. Spencer, 2016. "Constructing markets: environmental economics and the contingent valuation controversy," MPRA Paper 78814, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Jorge Iván González, 2016. "Sentimientos y racionalidad en economía," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Economía, edition 1, number 75.
    13. Kevin Hoover & Mark Siegler, 2008. "Sound and fury: McCloskey and significance testing in economics," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 1-37.
    14. Thomas Leonard, 2001. "Reflection on rules in science: an invisible-hand perspective," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 141-168.
    15. Eduardo Strachman & Jos Ricardo Fucidji, 2012. "The Current Financial And Economic Crisis Empirical And Methodological Issues," Journal of Advanced Studies in Finance, ASERS Publishing, vol. 3(1), pages 95-109.
    16. Petreski, Marjan, 2009. "Analysis of exchange-rate regime effect on growth: theoretical channels and empirical evidence with panel data," Economics Discussion Papers 2009-49, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    17. Christopher L. Gilbert & Duo Qin, 2007. "Representation in Econometrics: A Historical Perspective," Working Papers 583, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    18. Troost, Christian & Huber, Robert & Bell, Andrew R. & van Delden, Hedwig & Filatova, Tatiana & Le, Quang Bao & Lippe, Melvin & Niamir, Leila & Polhill, J. Gareth & Sun, Zhanli & Berger, Thomas, 2023. "How to keep it adequate: A protocol for ensuring validity in agent-based simulation," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 159, pages 1-21.
    19. Gérard Charreaux, 2008. "La recherche en finance d’entreprise:quel positionnement méthodologique ?," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 11(Special), pages 237-290, June.
    20. Duo Qin, 2006. "VAR Modelling Approach and Cowles Commission Heritage," Working Papers 557, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    normative and positive economic methodology; philosophy of economics; models; rationality; interdisciplinarity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
    • A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
    • A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics
    • B4 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nea:journl:y:2011:i:9:p:47-70. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Alexey Tcharykov (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nearuea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.