The Inexact and Separate Science of Economics

by Daniel M. Hausman

Book Overview

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the fundamentals of standard economics, to the strategies economists employ in applying their theories to solve particular problems, and to the ways in which economists assess their theories. The author points out that economic theorists share a vision of economic theory as a separate science, believing that a single theory focusing on one cause, rational greed, can capture the basic features of the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521425239
• ISBN13: 9780521425230
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 388 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Good example of economic methodology

Hausman argues for a modified "Millian" economic methodology. Probably one of the most accurate accounts of how economists think they (and sometimes do) "do" economics. Covers a wide range of topics along the way, including applied topics in economics and issues directly relevant to the application of the philosophy of science to economics (e.g. the hopelessness of Popperian falsificationism).