Generate QR code
Open Access
Subscription Access
A Realist Perspective on Contemporary "Economic Theory" (Foreword by O. Ananyin)
https://doi.org/10.32609/0042-8736-2006-2-75-98
Abstract
The author elaborates on methodological issues of current tendencies in neoclassical theory and demonstrates the necessity of an alternative model of science, which he calls "realist". According to this perspective, constant and regular conjunctions of economic life events should not be the main object of analysis. Rather, the author proposes to consider structures and mechanisms governing events in question. Instead of deductivism, which, as Lawson believes, is a fundamental feature of orthodox economics, the abductive method of economic explanation is proposed that entails investigation of major powers, on which any social phenomenon depends. Society is thereby regarded not as a closed, but rather as an open system.
References
1. Бхаскар Р. Общества // Социо-Логос. М.: Прогресс. 1991.
2. Арчер М. Реализм и морфогенез // Теория общества: Фундаментальные проблемы. М.: Канон-Пресс-Ц, 1999.
3. Аутвейт У. Реализм и социальные науки: Действие, структура и философия. // Социо-Логос. М.: Прогресс, 1991.
4. Bhaskar R. A Realist Theory of Science. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Press, 1978.
5. Bhaskar R. Reclaiming Reality. London: Verso, 1989.
6. Bhaskar R. Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation. London: Verso, 1986.
7. Bhaskar R. The Possibility of Naturalism. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Press, 1979.
8. Bullock A., Stallybrass O., Trombley S. (eds.) The Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought. L.: Fontana Press, 1988.
9. Canning D. Equilibrium, Learning and Economic Dynamics. Mimeo, Cambridge, 1990.
10. Caplin A., Nalebuff В. Aggregation and Imperfect Competition: On the Existence of Equilibrium: London School of Economics Discussion Paper, 1989.
11. Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Pierce. Vol. 5 / C. Hartshorne, P. Weiss (eds.) Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1867.
12. Gould J., Kulb W. A Dictionary of the Social Sciences. L.: Tavistock Publications, 1964.
13. Hahn F. Equilibrium and Macroeconomics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1984.
14. Hahn F. In Praise of Economic Theory: The 1984 Jevons Memorial Fund Lecture. London: University College, 1985.
15. Hahn F. The Next Hundred Years // Economic Journal. 1991. Vol. 101. No 404. P. 50.
16. Hildenbrand W. On the Law of Demand // Econometrica. 1983. Vol. 51. P. 997-1020.
17. Kapp K. The Nature and Significance of Institutional Economics // Kyklos. 1976. Vol. 29. P. 209-232.
18. Kilpatrick A., Lawson T. On the Nature of Industrial Decline in the UK // Cambridge Journal of Economics. 1980. Vol. 4. P. 85-102.
19. Kirman A. The Intrinsic Limits of Modern Economic Theory: The Emperor Has No Clothes // Economic Journal. 1989. Vol. 99. No 395. P. 126-139.
20. Lawson T. Abstraction, Tendencies and Stylised Facts: A Realist Approach to Economic Analysis // Cambridge Journal of Economics. 1989. Vol. 13. No 1. P. 59-78.
21. Lawson T. Realism and Instrumentalism in the Development of Econometrics // Oxford Economic Papers. 1989. Vol. 41. No 1. P. 236-258.
22. Lawson T. Realism, Closed Systems and Friedman // Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology. 1992. Vol. 10.
23. Lawson T. Reorienting Economics. L. and NY.: Routledge, 2003.
24. Lawson T. Why Are So Many Economists So Opposed to Methodology? // Journal of Economic Methodology. 1994. No 1. P. 105-134.
25. Lowson T. A Realist Perspective on Contemorary “Economic Theory” // Journal of Economic Issues.1995. Vol. 29. No 1. P. 1-32.
26. Outhwaite W., Bottomore T. (eds.) The Blackwell Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Social Thought. Oxford: Blackwell, 1993.
27. Pheby J. Methodology and Economics: A Critical Introduction. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press, 1988.
28. Solow R. Economics: Is Something Missing? // W.N. Parker (ed.) Economic History and the Modern Economist. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986. P. 24-25.
29. Whitehead A. Science and the Modern World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1926.
Review
For citations:
Lawson T. A Realist Perspective on Contemporary "Economic Theory" (Foreword by O. Ananyin). Voprosy Ekonomiki. 2006;(2):75-98. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.32609/0042-8736-2006-2-75-98
Views:
745
Email this article 
