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The Methodology of Economics and the Survival Principle Revisited and Revised: Some Welfare and Public Policy Implications of Modeling the Economic Agent

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  • Morris Altman

Abstract

The focus of this paper is on the survival principle, as articulated by Milton Friedman, that dominates the methodology of the conventional wisdom either explicitly or implicitly. The survival principle is revised applying the behavioral approach to economics, which differs fundamentally with Friedman's methodology. This discussion is contextualized by a comparison of the different approaches to the modeling of economic agents and the substantive implications of this for theory and public policy and thereby for economic welfare and economic justice.

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  • Morris Altman, 1999. "The Methodology of Economics and the Survival Principle Revisited and Revised: Some Welfare and Public Policy Implications of Modeling the Economic Agent," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(4), pages 427-449.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rsocec:v:57:y:1999:i:4:p:427-449
    DOI: 10.1080/00346769900000015
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rutherford,Malcolm, 1996. "Institutions in Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521574471, September.
    2. Rosenberg, Alexander, 1992. "Economics--Mathematical Politics or Science of Diminishing Returns?," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226727233, December.
    3. Miller,Gary J., 1992. "Managerial Dilemmas," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521372817, January.
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    1. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:4:y:2006:i:33:p:1-7 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Altman, Morris, 2020. "A more scientific approach to applied economics: Reconstructing statistical, analytical significance, and correlation analysis," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 315-324.
    3. Forest L. Reinhardt & Robert N. Stavins & Richard H. K. Vietor, 2008. "Corporate Social Responsibility Through an Economic Lens," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 2(2), pages 219-239, Summer.
    4. Altman, Morris, 2001. "When green isn't mean: economic theory and the heuristics of the impact of environmental regulations on competitiveness and opportunity cost," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 31-44, January.
    5. Berg, Nathan, 2003. "Normative behavioral economics," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 411-427, September.
    6. Altman, Morris, 2014. "Insights from behavioral economics on how labor markets work," Working Paper Series 3466, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Economics and Finance.
    7. Morris Altman, 2006. "Opening-up the objective function: choice behavior and economic and non-economic variables—core and marginal altruism," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 4(33), pages 1-7.
    8. Zafirovski, Milan, 2002. "Reconsidering equilibrium: a socio-economic perspective," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 559-579.
    9. Morris Altman, 2019. "Implications of smart decision-making and heuristics for production theory and material welfare," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 18(2), pages 167-179, December.
    10. Morris Altman, 2021. "Methodological challenges in Behavioural Economics: Towards a more holistic and empirically rooted economic science," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 5(S3), pages 19-33, October.
    11. Altman, Morris, 2014. "Insights from behavioral economics on how labor markets work," Working Paper Series 18843, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Economics and Finance.
    12. Altman, Morris, 2006. "Involuntary unemployment, macroeconomic policy, and a behavioral model of the firm: Why high real wages need not cause high unemployment," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 97-111, June.

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