Read more
This book offers a vision of economics in which there is no place for universal laws of nature, and even for laws of a more probabilistic character. The author avoids interpreting the practice of economics as something that leads to the formulation of universal laws or laws of nature. Instead, chapters in the book follow the method of contemporary philosophy of science: rather than formulating suggestions for practicing scientists of how they should do research, the text describes and interprets the very practice of scientific research. This approach demonstrates how economists can explain economic phenomena not by subsuming them under general laws, but rather by building models of these phenomena, by referring to causes, or even by investigating what is in the nature of given factors, events, or circumstances to produce.
List of contents
1. On the Nature of Economic Laws: From A. Smith to A. Marshall.- 2. The Demise of Laws in Economics.- 3. Between Isolations and Constructions: Economic Models as Believable Worlds.- 4. Distinctively Mathematical Explanations in Economics.- 5. Causal Explanations in Economics.
About the author
Łukasz Hardt is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Warsaw, Poland. In 2016, he was nominated by the President of Poland to the Monetary Policy Council.
Summary
This book offers a vision of economics in which there is no place for universal laws of nature, and even for laws of a more probabilistic character. The author avoids interpreting the practice of economics as something that leads to the formulation of universal laws or laws of nature. Instead, chapters in the book follow the method of contemporary philosophy of science: rather than formulating suggestions for practicing scientists of how they should do research, the text describes and interprets the very practice of scientific research. This approach demonstrates how economists can explain economic phenomena not by subsuming them under general laws, but rather by building models of these phenomena, by referring to causes, or even by investigating what is in the nature of given factors, events, or circumstances to produce.
