Economic methodology is the study of methods, especially the

scientific method The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific m ...

, in relation to

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

, including principles underlying economic reasoning. In contemporary English, 'methodology' may reference theoretical or systematic aspects of a method (or several methods).

Philosophy and economics Philosophy and economics studies topics such as public economics, behavioural economics, rationality, justice, history of economic thought, rational choice, the appraisal of economic outcomes, institutions and processes, the status of highly ide ...

also takes up methodology at the intersection of the two subjects.

Scope

General

methodological In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...

issues include similarities and contrasts to the

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

s and to other

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...

and, in particular, to: * the

definition of economics Various definitions of economics have been proposed, including, "what economists do". The earlier term for 'economics' was political economy, political 'economy'. It is adapted from the French Mercantilist usage of ''économie politique'', which ...

* the scope of economics as defined by its methods * fundamental principles and operational significance of economic theory *

methodological individualism In the social sciences, methodological individualism is the principle that subjective individual motivation explains social phenomena, rather than class or group dynamics which are illusory or artificial and therefore cannot truly explain marke ...

versus

holism Holism () is the idea that various systems (e.g. physical, biological, social) should be viewed as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. The term "holism" was coined by Jan Smuts in his 1926 book ''Holism and Evolution''."holism, n." OED Onl ...

in economics * the role of simplifying assumptions such as

rational choice Rational choice theory refers to a set of guidelines that help understand economic and social behaviour. The theory originated in the eighteenth century and can be traced back to political economist and philosopher, Adam Smith. The theory postula ...

and profit maximizing in explaining or predicting phenomena * descriptive/

positive Positive is a property of positivity and may refer to: Mathematics and science * Positive formula, a logical formula not containing negation * Positive number, a number that is greater than 0 * Plus sign, the sign "+" used to indicate a posi ...

prescriptive Linguistic prescription, or prescriptive grammar, is the establishment of rules defining preferred usage of language. These rules may address such linguistic aspects as spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and semantics. Sometimes infor ...

normative Normative generally means relating to an evaluative standard. Normativity is the phenomenon in human societies of designating some actions or outcomes as good, desirable, or permissible, and others as bad, undesirable, or impermissible. A norm in ...

, and applied uses of theory * the scientific status and expanding domain of economics * issues critical to the practice and progress of

econometrics Econometrics is the application of Statistics, statistical methods to economic data in order to give Empirical evidence, empirical content to economic relationships.M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics," ''The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of ...

* the balance of

empirical Empirical evidence for a proposition is evidence, i.e. what supports or counters this proposition, that is constituted by or accessible to sense experience or experimental procedure. Empirical evidence is of central importance to the sciences and ...

and philosophical approaches * the role of

experiments An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

in economics * the role of

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

mathematical economics Mathematical economics is the application of mathematical methods to represent theories and analyze problems in economics. Often, these applied methods are beyond simple geometry, and may include differential and integral calculus, difference an ...

in economics * the writing and rhetoric of economics * the relation between theory, observation, application, and methodology in contemporary economics. Economic methodology has gone from periodic reflections of economists on method to a distinct research field in economics since the 1970s. In one direction, it has expanded to the boundaries of philosophy, including the relation of economics to the

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultim ...

and the

theory of knowledge Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Ep ...

In another direction of

philosophy and economics Philosophy and economics studies topics such as public economics, behavioural economics, rationality, justice, history of economic thought, rational choice, the appraisal of economic outcomes, institutions and processes, the status of highly ide ...

, additional subjects are treated including

decision theory Decision theory (or the theory of choice; not to be confused with choice theory) is a branch of applied probability theory concerned with the theory of making decisions based on assigning probabilities to various factors and assigning numerical ...

and

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

.• _____,

994 Year 994 ( CMXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * September 15 – Battle of the Orontes: Fatimid forces, under Turkish gener ...

2006,
Economic Analysis and Moral Philosophy
', 2nd ed. New York, Cambridge University Press.

Notes

References

* John Bryan Davis, D. Wade Hands, Uskali Mäki (1998). ''Handbook of Economic Methodology'', E. Elgar * Hands, D. Wade, ed. (1993). ''The Philosophy And Methodology Of Economics'', Duke University * Hausman, Daniel M. (1984).
The Philosophy of Economics: An Anthology
'. New York: Cambridge University Press, * Boland, L. (1982) ''The Foundations of Economic Method'', London: Geo. Allen & Unwin. * Boland, L. (1989)
The Methodology of Economic Model Building: Methodology after Samuelson
', London: Routledge. * Boland, L. (1997)
Critical Economic Methodology: A Personal Odyssey
', London: Routledge * Boland, L. (2003) The Foundations of Economic Method: A Popperian Perspective, London: Routledge * D.N. McCloskey (1983).
The Rhetoric of Economics
', Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1998 * Daniel M. Hausman (1992).
Essays on Philosophy and Economic Methodology
', Cambridge University Press, 1992 * Nell, E.J. and Errouaki, K. (2011) ''Rational Econometric Man''. Edward Elgar. * Düppe, T. (2011).
How Economic Methodology Became a Separate Science
', Journal of Economic Methodology, 18 (2): 163-176.

External links

*
Journal of Economic Methodology
' - page @

EconPapers Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) is a collaborative effort of hundreds of volunteers in many countries to enhance the dissemination of research in economics. The heart of the project is a decentralized database of working papers, preprints, ...

* Daniel M. Hausman
Philosophy of Economics
(with focus on methodology), ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' *

Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the ...

"The Methodology of Positive Economics"
(excerpts) {{Economics Interdisciplinary subfields of economics

Scope

See also

Notes

References

External links