The Methodology of Positive Economics: Reflections on the Milton Friedman Legacy

by Edited by Uskali Mäki

• ISBN13: 9780521686860
• ISBN10: 0521686865
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-05-29
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Milton Friedman's 1953 essay 'The methodology of positive economics' remains the most cited, influential, and controversial piece of methodological writing in twentieth-century economics. Since its appearance, the essay has shaped the image of economics as a scientific discipline, both within and outside of the academy. At the same time, there has been an ongoing controversy over the proper interpretation and normative evaluation of the essay. Perceptions have been sharply divided, with some viewing economics as a scientific success thanks to its adherence to Friedman's principles, others taking it as a failure for the same reason. In this book, a team of world-renowned experts in the methodology of economics cast new light on Friedman's methodological arguments and practices from a variety of perspectives. It provides the 21st century reader with an invaluable assessment of the impact and contemporary significance of Friedman's seminal work.

Author Biography

Uskali Maumlet;ki is Academy Professor at the Academy of Finland. He has written extensively on the philosophy and methodology of economics and is editor of number of books, including The Economic World View (Cambridge University Press, 2001). Fact and Fiction in Economics (Cambridge University Press, 2002), and Handbook of the Philosophy of Economics (2009).

Table of Contents

List of figures page	p. ix
List of tables	p. x
Contributors	p. xi
Preface	p. xvii
The classical essay in twentieth-century economic methodology	p. 1
The methodology of positive economics (1953)	p. 3
Reading and writing a classic	p. 45
Reading the methodological essay in twentieth-century economics: map of multiple perspectives	p. 47
Early drafts of Friedman's methodology essay	p. 68
Unrealistic assumptions and unnecessary confusions: rereading and rewriting F53 as a realist statement	p. 90
Models, assumptions, predictions, evidence	p. 117
The influence of Friedman's methodological essay	p. 119
Did Milton Friedman's positive methodology license the formalist revolution?	p. 143
Appraisal of evidence in economic methodology	p. 165
The politics of positivism: disinterested predictions from interested agents	p. 189
Theoretical context: firm, money, expected utility, Walras and Marshall	p. 215
Friedman's 1953 essay and the marginalist controversy	p. 217
Friedman (1953) and the theory of the firm	p. 241
Friedman's selection argument revisited	p. 257
Expected utility and Friedman's risky methodology	p. 285
Milton Friedman's stance: the methodology of causal realism	p. 303
On the right side for the wrong reason: Friedman on the Marshall-Walras divide	p. 321
Concluding perspectives	p. 347
The debate over F53 after fifty years	p. 349
Final word	p. 355
Index	p. 356
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.