IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jecmet/v5y1998i1p23-41.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Four detours

Author

Listed:
  • D. P. O'Brien

Abstract

This paper considers four examples of apparent progress in economics, each of which proved illusory. In each case the problem stemmed from factual errors. The cases relate to the treatment by Arrow of the incentives to finance basic research, the obliteration of industrial economics by game theory, Pigou's treatment of the legal background to his exposition of market failure involving externalities, and the macroeconomic disputes leading to Robbin's The Great Depression of 1934. These cases support the view that economists do need the discipline of a well-attested factual basis for their structures. Stylised facts are not merely inadequate; they are almost always not facts at all.

Suggested Citation

  • D. P. O'Brien, 1998. "Four detours," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 23-41.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jecmet:v:5:y:1998:i:1:p:23-41
    DOI: 10.1080/13501789800000002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13501789800000002
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/13501789800000002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roger E. Backhouse, 1997. "Truth and Progress in Economic Knowledge," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 766.
    2. repec:ucp:bkecon:9780226320649 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. repec:ucp:bkecon:9780226320625 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Miguel A. Duran, 2007. "Mathematical Needs and Economic Interpretations," Contributions to Political Economy, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 26(1), pages 1-16.
    2. Sandra Silva & Aurora Teixeira, 2009. "On the divergence of evolutionary research paths in the past 50 years: a comprehensive bibliometric account," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 19(5), pages 605-642, October.
    3. Blankart Charles B. & Koester Gerrit B., 2007. "Theoretischer und empirischer wissenschaftlicher Fortschritt / Theoretical and empirical scientific progress: Eine kritische Analyse des Buches von Alesina und Spolaore: „The Size of Nations“ / A crit," ORDO. Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, De Gruyter, vol. 58(1), pages 167-180, January.
    4. Pedro N. Teixeira, 2007. "Great expectations, mixed results and resilient beliefs: the troubles of empirical research in economic controversies," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(3), pages 291-309.
    5. D. Hodge, 1999. "The Monetary Approach: A Methodological Appraisal," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 67(4), pages 263-274, December.
    6. Clive Beed & Cara Beed, 1999. "Intellectual Progress and Academic Economics: Rational Choice and Game Theory," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(2), pages 163-185, December.
    7. Francesco Guala & Andrea Salanti, 2002. "Model-robustness in ‘old’ and ‘new’ growth theory," Working Papers (-2012) 0201, University of Bergamo, Department of Economics.
    8. Francesco Guala & Andrea Salanti, 2002. "On the Robustness of Economic Models," Working Papers (-2012) 0208, University of Bergamo, Department of Economics.
    9. Marcel Boumans & Mary Morgan, 2002. "Ceteris paribus conditions: materiality and the application of economic theories," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 11-26.
    10. Thomas Leonard, 2001. "Reflection on rules in science: an invisible-hand perspective," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 141-168.
    11. Holmlund, Bertil, 2014. "What do labor market institutions do?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 62-69.
    12. Bernd Hayo, 1998. "Simplicity in econometric modelling: some methodological considerations," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(2), pages 247-261.
    13. Francesco Sergi, 2020. "The Standard Narrative about DSGE Models in Central Banks’ Technical Reports," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(2), pages 163-193, March.
    14. Roger Backhouse & Mary Morgan, 2001. "Introduction: is data mining a methodological problem?," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 171-181.
    15. Francesco Sergi, 2015. "L'histoire (faussement) naïve des modèles DSGE," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-01222798, HAL.
    16. Sandra Silva, 2009. "On evolutionary technological change and economic growth: Lakatos as a starting point for appraisal," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 111-135, February.
    17. Francesco Sergi, 2015. "L'histoire (faussement) naïve des modèles DSGE," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 15066, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    18. Roger Backhouse & Andrea Salanti, 1999. "The methodology of macroeconomics," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(2), pages 159-169.
    19. Mark Tomass, 2001. "Incommensurability of Economic Paradigms: A case study of the monetary theories of Mises and Marx," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 221-243.
    20. Tore Schweder, 2003. "Discussion," International Statistical Review, International Statistical Institute, vol. 71(2), pages 303-307, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:jecmet:v:5:y:1998:i:1:p:23-41. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RJEC20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.