PHILOSOPHY & METHODOLOGY OF ECONOMICS eJOURNAL – Vol. 9, No. 23: Apr 6, 2018

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The International Network for Economic Method (INEM) (http://www.econmethodology.org) is a nonprofit society that seeks to promote links among economic methodologists, philosophers of economics, economists in all fields, and scholars in cognate disciplines. It aims to serve all who would reflect upon the methods of economics and of closely related social sciences.

PHILOSOPHY & METHODOLOGY OF ECONOMICS eJOURNAL
Sponsored by International Network for Economic Method (INEM)

«Das Milton Friedman Problem?: A Reassessment of Friedman’s Contributions to Economic Methodology» Free Download
GMU Working Paper in Economics No. 18-08

PETER J. BOETTKE, George Mason University – Department of Economics
Email: PBOETTKE@GMU.EDU
ROSOLINO CANDELA, Brown University
Email: rosolino_candela@brown.edu

In terms of economic methodology, Friedman’s most well-known contribution is his 1953 essay, “The Methodology of Positive Economics.” This important contribution has overshadowed his earlier contribution to economic methodology, entitled “Lerner on the Economics of Control” (1947). Whereas Friedman (1953) argued that economic theory can be built upon unrealistic assumptions, ironically, what has been almost forgotten is that Friedman (1947) attacked the theory of market socialism precisely for its unrealistic assumptions. This irony presents an interesting puzzle, which we adjudicate in this essay. We argue that in each case, Friedman was making an immanent critique of his intellectual opponents that was rhetorically consistent, yet methodologically inconsistent. This methodological inconsistency is irreconcilable, since Friedman (1953) contradicts the analysis of Friedman (1947).

«Social Network Analysis: A Complementary Method of Discovery for the History of Economics» Free Download
Forthcoming, A Contemporary Historiography of Economics, E. Roy Weintraub and Till Düppe (eds.), Routledge.

FRANÇOIS CLAVEAU, Independent
Email: francois.claveau@mail.mcgill.ca
CATHERINE SOPHIA HERFELD, University of Zurich
Email: c.herfeld@gmx.de

In this chapter, we discuss social network analysis as a method for the history of economics. We argue that social network analysis is not primarily a method of data representation but foremost a method of discovery and confirmation. It is as such a promising method that should be added to the toolbox of the historian of economics. We furthermore argue that, to be meaningfully applied in history, social network analysis must be complemented with historical knowledge gained by other means and often by more traditional, mostly qualitative, methods. It should therefore be viewed as a method that complements rather than replaces more established approaches in the history of economics.

«The Impact that Ramsey’s Overlooking of Keynes’s Non Additive, Interval Valued Probability Approach in His Reviews of the a Treatise on Probability Has Had on Philosophers and Economists» Free Download

MICHAEL EMMETT BRADY, California State University, Dominguez Hills
Email: mandmbrady@juno.com

Ramsey’s failure to grasp the interval valued and non additive nature of Keynesian probability assessments in the A Treatise on Probability has led to the misbelief that Keynes’s approach was an ordinal one. While Keynes’s approach easily handles ordinal probability, the theory of the Treatise on Probability that of “Approximation”, which is interval valued probability.

Ramsey’s reviews, however, have been accepted at face value by philosophically interested readers, who fail to grasp that Ramsey has no idea about the fundamental non additive, sub additive, nature of Keynes’s interval valued probability approach. This leads to some very strange assessments of Keynes’s A Treatise on Probability by philosophers who are reading that book.

«Contemporary Elements of Business Philosophy and Knowledge from an Ignatian Perspective»

MICHAEL FASCIA, University of Oxford, Campion Hall
Email: michael.fascia@campion.ox.ac.uk

From a retail environment, we reflect on the unity of knowledge as valuable in a business context, and from an Ignatian perspective, consider a reflexion of knowledge transfer practitioners to elementary cognition. We deliberate why, despite decades of analytical scrutiny, agreement around the transfer of knowledge into a value item within a business milieu, remains troublesome and problematic. We ask if perspectives derived from an Ignatian domain can allow for alternative elements of analysis and reasoning, becoming more complementary within a business environment. Utilising a mixed method approach incorporating (n=6) participants, the study considered responses overarched by Ignatian rules of sentiment as an interpretive lens (n=18), and utilised a hermeneutic of discernment as a frame of reference. Drawn from a POPC frame of reference, Ignatian annotations (n=20) allow a linear dependence of correlation coefficients to support a correlation matrix. Although not strictly a research method, correlation analysis in this instance permits antipodal interpretation of content between the rules supporting spiritual exercises, and decisions taken by employees and managers. Thus, enabling the study to identify latent causality patterns within organisational decision-making processes.
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About this eJournal

Sponsored by: International Network for Economic Method (INEM).

This eJournal distributes working and accepted paper abstracts of papers on all aspects of the philosophy and methodology of economics, as well as papers in cognate areas of clear interest to philosophers of economics and economic methodologists. Areas of interest include, but are not restricted to, the philosophy of science applied to economics as a target science; studies of the philosophical foundations of economics – such as the foundations of rational choice or game theory; the philosophical foundations of empirical methods, including econometrics and statistics applied to economics; the methodology of economic modeling (theoretical and empirical); the methodological analysis of the theory and practice of contemporary economics; the analysis of the methodological implications of new developments in economic theory and practice; the methodological writings and practice of earlier economists (mainstream or heterodox); studies in the economics of economics, rhetoric, sociology of economics, and science studies with economics as the target science.

Editor: Kevin D. Hoover, Duke University

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ERN SUBJECT MATTER EJOURNALS

MICHAEL C. JENSEN
Harvard Business School, SSRN, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI), Harvard University – Accounting & Control Unit
Email: mjensen@hbs.edu

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Advisory Board

Philosophy & Methodology of Economics eJournal

ZAMORA BONILLA
Professor of Philosophy, Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia (UNED) – Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science

JOHN BROOME
White’s Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of Oxford – Faculty of Philosophy

SHEILA C. DOW
Professor of Economics, University of Stirling – Department of Economics, Adjunct Professor, University of Victoria – Faculty of Business

GLENN WILLIAM HARRISON
C.V. Starr Chair of Risk Management & Insurance, Director, Center for the Economic Analysis of Risk (CEAR), Georgia State University – J. Mack Robinson College of Business

DANIEL HAUSMAN
Herbert A. Simon Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin – Madison – Department of Philosophy

USKALI MAKI
Academy Professor, Academy of Finland

PHILIPPE MONGIN
GREGHEC, CNRS, HEC Paris – Economics & Decision Sciences

MARY S. MORGAN
Professor of History and Philosophy of Economics, London School of Economics, Professor of Economics, University of Amsterdam

DON ROSS
Professor of Economics, University of Cape Town – Faculty of Commerce – School of Economics, Research Fellow, Center for Economic Analysis of Risk, Georgia State University

MARGARET SCHABAS
Professor of Philosophy, University of British Columbia (UBC) – Department of Philosophy

ARIS SPANOS
Professor of Economics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University – Department of Economics

ROBERT SUGDEN
Professor of Economics, University of East Anglia – School of Economics

JACK J. VROMEN
Professor of Philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), Faculty of Philosophy, Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics (EIPE)

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