The Methodology of Economic Model Building: Methodology After Samuelson - Couverture souple

Boland, Lawrence

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0415064627 ISBN 13 : 9780415064620

Editeur : Routledge, 1991

Synopsis

Model building has been the backbone of modern economic theory over the last 25 years, and the major methodological task for each model builder has been to establish the testability of each model developed. Too often, though, seemingly innocent modelling assumptions can make a model virtually impossible to test, even under ideal conditions, yet few economic theorists have examined the methodological requirements and problems of assuring testability in economics. Lawrence Boland considers how economists have applied Popper's views on the need for error-detection and testability theories in science. The methodological debates these theories have inspired are related to wider debates on empiricism and the truth status of models in the natural and social sciences. He concludes by arguing that the practice of model building in economics reflects the methodological prescriptions of Samuelson more than the falsification theory usually attributed to Popper. This book should be of interest to lecturers and students of economics.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

The major methodological task for modern economists has been to establish the testability of models. Too often, however, methodological assumptions can make a model virtually impossible to test even under ideal conditions, yet few theorists have examined the requirements and problems of assuring testability in economics.

In The Methodology of Economic Model Building, first published in 1989, Lawrence Boland presents the results of a research project that spanned more than twenty years. He examines how economists have applied the philosophy of Karl Popper, relating methodological debates about falsifiability to wider discussions about the truth status of models in natural and social sciences. He concludes that model building in economics reflects more the methodological prescriptions of the economist Paul Samuelson than Popper’s ‘falsificationism’. This title will prove invaluable to both students and researchers, and represents a substantial contribution to debates about the scientific status of economics.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Routledge
• Date d'édition: 1991
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0415064627
• ISBN 13: 9780415064620
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 208
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible