The Foundations of Positive and Normative Economics: A Hand Book

Abstract

This book is the first book in a series which aims to provide a guide to the rapidly changing methodological frontiers of the field of economics. The absence of such a guide has left economists ill at ease, and has created a backlash against new methods. The series debates critical issues, allowing proponents of a particular research method to present proposals in a safe yet critical context, with alternatives being clarified. This first volume reflects the challenges that are opened by new research opportunities. The goal of the current volume, and the series it presages, is to open formally a dialog on methodology. The conviction behind the series is that such a debate will rebound to the benefit of social science in general, and economics in particular. The issues under discussion strike to the very heart of the social-scientific enterprise.