Is There Progress in Economics?: Knowledge, Truth and the History of Economic Thought - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1840646837 ISBN 13: 9781840646832

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 2002

Synopsis

This thought-provoking book discusses the concept of progress in economics and investigates whether any advance has been made in its different spheres of research. The authors look back at the history, successes and failures of their respective fields and thoroughly examine the notion of progress from an epistemological and methodological perspective.

The idea of progress is particularly significant as the authors regard it as an essentially contested concept which can be defined in many ways - theoretically or empirically; locally or globally; or as encouraging or impeding the existence of other research traditions. The authors discuss the idea that for progress to make any sense there must be an accumulation of knowledge built up over time rather than the replacement of ideas by each successive generation. Accordingly, they are not concerned with estimating the price of progress, reminiscing in the past, or assessing what has been lost. Instead they apply the complex mechanisms and machinery of the discipline to sub-fields such as normative economics, monetary economics, trade and location theory, Austrian economics and classical economics to critically assess whether progress has been made in these areas of research.

Bringing together authoritative and wide-ranging contributions by leading scholars, this book will challenge and engage those interested in philosophy, economic methodology and the history of economic thought. It will also appeal to economists in general who are interested in the advancement of their profession.

About this title

About the Author

Edited by Stephan Boehm, Associate Professor of Economics, Christian Gehrke, Associate Professor of Economics, Heinz D. Kurz, Emeritus Professor of Economics and Richard Sturn, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Graz, Austria

Edition details

• Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1840646837
• ISBN 13: 9781840646832
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 432
• Editor: Boehm Stephan, Gehrke Christian, Kurz Heinz D., Sturn Richard