Economic Methodology

A comprehensive bibliography of economic methodological works since 1860, this volume includes 2,244 entries divided into two primary sections. The first section covers works on economic methodology while Part Two deals with works on the philosophy of science. The inclusion of works by philosophers of science reflects the prevalence of references to their works both in contemporary economic literature and throughout the period covered. Many of the entries are annotated, including the classics in economic methodology, almost all of the books, and general works in the philosophy of science section. All other sections include an introduction to the topic and the articles listed under that heading. By collecting these works together in one source for the first time, compiler Deborah Redman has performed a major service for students, researchers, and scholars of economics, as well as interested philosophers and other social scientists.

Part One, on methodology, is divided into twenty-five sections devoted to such issues as the Friedman controversy, the is-ought dichotomy, the role of ethics and values in economics, the Cambridge controversy, and more. Individual economists like Samuelson and Friedman, who have had a major influence on the discipline, are treated in separate categories. In addition, individual sections address quantification, theory, econometrics, rationality, and the positions of the Austrians, the new group of rhetoricians, the institutionalists, and others. Part Two begins by providing introductory texts and background sources for those with little prior exposure to works in the philosophy of science. The remaining eleven sections are organized around the philosophies of science that economists have incorporated into their economic philosophies. Hence works by and on Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Imre Lakatos, Paul Feyerabend, and the German structuralists appear as categories. Additional sections cover holism and the Duhem thesis, the relationship between the history and philosophy of science, and miscellaneous works. Author and subject indexes complete the volume.