Economic methodology

Economic methodology is the study of methods, especially the scientific method,  in relation to economics,  including principles underlying economic reasoning. In contemporary English, 'methodology' may reference theoretical or systematic aspects of a method (or several methods). Philosophy and economics also takes up methodology at the intersection of the two subjects.

Scope
General methodological issues include similarities and contrasts to the natural sciences and to other social sciences and, in particular, to: Thomas J. Sargent, 1994. Bounded Rationality in Macroeconomics, Oxford. Description and chapter-preview 1st-page links.  • Vernon L. Smith, 2008. Rationality in Economics: Constructivist and Ecological Forms, Cambridge. Description/contents links and preview. Reply to ..." [preprint ] and Hoover and Siegler, "... Rejoinder to ..., pp. 39–68;  • Edward J. Nell and Karim Errouaki, 2011. Rational Econometric Man,Part I and ch. 10. Edward Elgar. 1998. "Disturbing Currents in Modern Economics", Challenge, 41(3), pp. 11-34. Reprint.  • Paul Krugman, 1998, "Two Cheers for Formalism", Economic Journal, 108(451), pp. 1829-1836. • Terence Hutchison, 2000. On the Methodology of Economics and the Formalist Revolution, Edward Elgar. Description and preview. • E. Roy Weintraub, 2008. "mathematics and economics", The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Edition. Abstract. • _____, 2002. How Economics Became a Mathematical Science, Duke University Press. Description, preview, and review  extract. • Kenneth J. Arrow, 1951. Social Choice and Individual Values. • Amartya K. Sen, 1970 [1984]. Collective Choice and Social Welfare ISBN 0-444-85127-5. • _____, 2008. "social choice", The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Edition. Abstract.
 * the definition of economics
 * the scope of economics as defined by its methods
 * fundamental principles and operational significance of economic theory
 * methodological individualism versus holism in economics • Kaushik Basu, 2008. "methodological individualism", The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Edition. Abstract. • Edward J. Nell, 1998. General Theory of Transformational Growth, Part I. Cambridge University Press.   • Harold Kincaid, 2008. "individualism versus holism", The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Edition.  Abstract.   • F.A. Hayek, 1948. Individualism and Economic Order. Chapter-preview links.   •  George J. Stigler and Paul A. Samuelson, 1963. "A Dialogue on the Proper Economic Role of the State." Selected Papers, No. 7.  University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.   •  James M. Buchanan, 1990. "The Domain of Constitutional Economics", Constitutional Political Economy, 1(1), pp. 1-18, adapted as "Constitutional Political Economy" in C. K. Rowley and F. Schneider, ed., 2004, The Encyclopedia of Public Choice, v. 2, pp. 60-67.   •  Kenneth J. Arrow, 1994. "Methodological Individualism and Social Knowledge", American Economic Review, 84(2), pp. 1-9.   •  Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, 2008. Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Yale. Description and preview.   •  Shiozawa, Y. 2004 Evolutionary Economics in the 21st Century: A Manifest, Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, 1(1): 5-47.
 * the role of simplifying assumptions such as rational choice and profit maximizing in explaining or predicting phenomena • Lawrence A. Boland, 2008. "assumptions controversy", The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Edition. Abstract.  • Milton Friedman, 1953. "The Methodology of Positive Economics" in Essays in Positive Economics.   • Paul A. Samuelson, 1963.  "Problems of Methodology: Discussion", American Economic Review, 53(2) American Economic Review, pp. 231-236. Reprinted in J.C. Wood & R.N. Woods, ed., 1990, Milton Friedman: Critical Assessments, v. I, pp. 107-13. Preview. Routledge.   • Stanley Wong, 1973. "The 'F-Twist' and the Methodology of Paul Samuelson", American Economic Review, 63(3) p p. 312-325.  Reprinted in J.C. Wood & R.N. Woods, ed., Milton Friedman: Critical Assessments, v. II, pp. 224-43.   • Shaun Hargreaves Heap, 2008. "economic man", The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Edition. Abstract.   • Kenneth J. Arrow, [1987] 1989. "Economic theory and the hypothesis of rationality", in The New Palgrave: Utility and Probability,  pp. 25-39.   • Duncan K. Foley, 2004. "Rationality and Ideology in Economics", Social Research, pp. 329-342. Pre-publication version .   •
 * descriptive/positive, prescriptive/normative, and applied uses of theory • Richard G. Lipsey, 2008. "positive economics". The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. 2nd Edition. Abstract.  • Amartya Sen, 1980.  "Description as Choice", Oxford Economic Papers, N.S., 32(3), pp. 353-369. Reprinted in Sen, 1982, Choice, Welfare and Measurement, Oxford, Basil Blackwell. Chapter-preview link, p.  432-449.   • John Neville Keynes, 1891. The Scope and Method of Political Economy.  ch. I, III. Annotated chapter links.  4th ed., 1917 [1999].  Full Contents.   • Colin F. Camerer, 2003. Behavioral Game Theory: Experiments in Strategic Interaction, pp. 5-7 (scroll to at 1.1 What Is Game Theory Good For? ).   • Kenneth E. Boulding, 1969. "Economics as a Moral Science", American Economic Review, 59(1), pp. 1–12.   •  A. B. Atkinson, 2009. "Economics as a Moral Science", Economica, 76(1), pp.  791–804.   • "Economics as a Moral Science" session, 2011.  American Economic Review, 101(3), article-abstract links.
 * the scientific status and expanding domain of economics
 * issues critical to the practice and progress of econometrics • Kevin D. Hoover, 2008. "causality in economics and econometrics", The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Edition. Abstract and galley proof.  • H. Wold 1954. "Causality and Econometrics", Econometrica, 22(2), p p. 162-177.   • C. W. J. Granger and P. Newbold,  1974. "Spurious Regressions in Econometrics", Journal of Econometrics, 2(2), pp. 111-120.   • David F. Hendry, 1980.  "Econometrics — Alchemy or Science?" Economica, N.S., 47(188), pp. 387-406.   • _____ 2001a. "Achievements and Challenges in Econometric Methodology", Journal of Econometrics, 100(1), pp. 7-10. PDF, pp. 1-4 .   • _____, 2001b. Econometrics: Alchemy or Science  Essays in Econometric Methodology,  2nd Edition. Oxford.  Description  and  contents.  Review in the Economic Journal.   • Edward E. Leamer, 1983.  "Let's Take the Con Out of Econometrics", American Economic Review, 73(1), pp. 31-43.   • Christopher A. Sims, 1980. "Macroeconomics and Reality", Econometrica,48, No. 1, pp. 1-48 .   • Fischer Black, 1982. "The Trouble with Econometric Models", Financial Analysts Journal, 38(2), pp. 29-37. Reprinted in Black, 2009, Business Cycles and Equilibrium, Wiley. Updated version, pp. 135 - 150.    • From Truman F. Bewley, ed., 1987. Advances in Econometrics: Fifth World Congress,  Cambridge v. 2:         Edward E. Leamer, "Econometric Metaphors", pp. 1- 28.         David F. Hendry. "Econometric Methodology: A Personal Perspective", pp. 29- 42.   • P.C.B. Phillips, 1988. "Reflections on Econometric Methodology",  Economic Record, 64(4), pp.  344–359. Abstract.   • David F. Hendry, Edward E. Leamer, and Dale J. Poirier, 1990. "The ET Dialogue: A Conversation on Econometric Methodology", Econometric Theory, 6(2),  pp. 171-261.   • Deirdre N. McCloskey and Stephen T. Ziliak, 1996. "The Standard Error of Regressions", Journal of Economic Literature, 34(1), pp. 97–114.   • Kevin D. Hoover and Mark V. Siegler, 2008. "Sound and Fury: McCloskey and Significance Testing in Economics", Journal of Economic Methodology, 15(1), pp. 1–37; McCloskey and Ziliak, "Signifying Nothing:
 * the balance of empirical and philosophical approaches
 * the role of experiments in economics
 * the role of mathematics and mathematical economics in economics • W. Stanley Jevons, 1879. The Theory of Political Economy, 2nd ed., ch. I, "Introduction", pp.  1-29.   • Paul A. Samuelson, 1952. "Economic Theory and Mathematics — An Appraisal", American Economic Review, 42(2), pp. 56-66.   • D.W. Bushaw and R.W. Clower, 1957. Introduction to Mathematical Economics, pp. vii-viii and ch. 1, pp. 3-8.   •  Gérard Debreu, ([1987] 2008). "mathematical economics", The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Edition. Abstract. (First published with revisions from 1986, "Theoretic Models: Mathematical Form and Economic Content", Econometrica, 54(6), pp. 1259-1270.)   • _____ 1991. "The Mathematization of Economic Theory", American Economic Review, 81(1), pp. 1-7.    • Robert W. Clower, 1994. "Economics as an Inductive Science", Southern Economic Journal, 60(4), pp. 805-814.   • _____, 1995. "Axiomatics in Economics", Southern Economic Journal, 62(2), pp. 307-319.   • Mark Blaug, 2003. "The Formalist Revolution of the 1950s", Journal of the History of Economic Thought,  25(2), pp. 145-156. Abstract.  Reprinted in Warren J. Samuels, et al., ed., 2003, A Companion to the History of Economic Thought, Wiley, pp. 395- 409.   • _____,
 * the writing and rhetoric of economics
 * the relation between theory, observation, application, and methodology in contemporary economics. • Wassily Leontief, 1971. "Theoretical Assumptions and Nonobserved Facts", American Economic Review, 61(1), pp. 1-7. Reprinted in W. Leontief, 1977, Essays in Economics, v. 1, ch. III, pp. 24-34.  • Mark Blaug, 1992. The Methodology of Economics: Or How Economists Explain, 2nd ed., Cambridge. Description and Preview.   • Roger Backhouse and Mark Blaug, 1994. New Directions in Economic Methodology, Routledge. Contents preview.   • P.A.G. van Bergeijk et al., 1997. Economic Science and Practice: The Roles of Academic Economists and Policy-Makers. Description  & preview links.   • D. Wade Hands, 2001. Without Rules: Economic Methodology and Contemporary Science Theory, Oxford. Description and contents preview.   • Christopher A. Sims, 1996. "Macroeconomics and Methodology", Journal of Economic Perspectives, 10(1), pp. 105-120.    • Kevin D. Hoover, 2001. The Methodology of Empirical Macroeconomics,  Oxford. Description and  preview.   • Bruno S. Frey, 2001. "Why Economists Disregard Economic Methodology, Journal of Economic Methodology'', 8(1), pp. 41–47.

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 and the theory of knowledge In another direction of philosophy and economics, additional subjects are treated including decision theory and ethics.