Many of the general issues that arise in the methodology of the natural sciences are also applicable in economics. However, a number of particular issues have arisen, reflecting the nature of economics as a social science, the limited scope for experimental work and the prominent role of deductive and axiomatic methods in economics.

Important methodological issues in economics have included: methodological individualism; the relation of science to economics, discussed by John Stuart Mill, John Neville Keynes and Lionel Robbins; the role of simplifying assumptions, debated at length by Milton Friedman and Paul Samuelson among others; the role of a priori deduction, discussed by Ludwig von Mises; and the uses of the axiomatic method and formalization as represented in the work of Kenneth Arrow, John R. Hicks, and Amartya Sen.

See also

• Model (economics)
• Philosophy of economics
• Positive economics

References

• Kenneth J. Arrow (1951). Social Choice and Individual Values
• Mark Blaug (1980, new ed. 2006). The Methodology of Economics, or How economists Explain.
• Lawrence A. Boland (1987). "Methodology," The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, pp. 455-58
• Milton Friedman (1953). Essays in Positive Economics
• John R. Hicks (1939, 2nd ed. 1946). Value and Capital: An Inquiry into Some Fundamental Principles of Economic Theory
• Terence W. Hutchison (1938). The Significance and Basic Postulates of Economic Theory
• Ludwig von Mises (1949). Human Action
• Lionel Robbins (1932).An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science
• Paul A. Samuelson (1947). Foundations of Economic Analysis
• Vivian Walsh (1987). "models and theory," The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, v. 3, pp. 482-83.

External links

• Daniel M. Hausman (2003). "Philosophy of Economics", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Milton Friedman (1953 [1970]). "The Methodology of Positive Economics," (with link)
• John Neville Keynes (1891). The Scope and Method of Political Economy
• J.S. Mill (1844) " On the Definition of Political Economy; and On the Method...," , pp. 86-114.
• Lionel Robbins (1935, 2nd ed.). An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science
• Homophileconomicus (Philosophy and Economics Blog, with useful links, conference announcements, course syllabi, news concerning recent research, etc.)