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Some Legacies of Robbins'Nature and Signifance of Economic Science

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Abstract

The Abstract of your paper: This paper criticises three Robbinsian positions still often found in modern economics: (1) the methodology of intuitively obvious assumptions; (2) treating facts as illustrations rather than as tests of theoretical propositions; (3) assuming that theory provides universally applicable generalisations independent of the characteristics of individual economies and so are independent of specific historical processes. Two corollaries of point (3) are that theory cannot assist in explaining unique historical events such as the emergence of sustained growth in the West and that economists need not interest themselves in the details of the technologies that produce the nation's wealth.

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  • Richard Lipsey, 2008. "Some Legacies of Robbins'Nature and Signifance of Economic Science," Discussion Papers dp08-01, Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University.
    • Handle: RePEc:sfu:sfudps:dp08-01
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    File URL: http://www.sfu.ca/repec-econ/sfu/sfudps/dp08-01.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    methodology; economic generalisations; measurement; positive economics; historical specificity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology
    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals

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