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Monetary History and Positive Economics

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  • Clower, Robert W.

Abstract

If successful prediction were the sole criterion of the merit of a science, economics should long since have ceased to exist as a serious intellectual pursuit. Accurate prognosis is not its forte. The real strength of the discipline lies in another direction—namely, in its apparently limitless capacity to rationalize events after they happen. This helps explain the indifference of most economic theorists to “the lessons of history†; men to whom all things are possible have little to learn from experiments conducted in the laboratory of time. It also helps explain the indifference of most economic historians to abstract theory; what have they to learn from a subject that “yields no predictions, summarizes no empirical generalizations, provides no useful framework of analysis†?

Suggested Citation

  • Clower, Robert W., 1964. "Monetary History and Positive Economics," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(3), pages 364-380, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:24:y:1964:i:03:p:364-380_06
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    Cited by:

    1. Michael D. Bordo, 1989. "The Contribution of "A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960" to Monetary History," NBER Chapters, in: Money, History, and International Finance: Essays in Honor of Anna J. Schwartz, pages 15-78, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Lothian, James R., 2009. "Milton Friedman's monetary economics and the quantity-theory tradition," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(7), pages 1086-1096, November.
    3. Plassard, Romain, 2017. "Disequilibrium as the origin, originality, and challenges of Clower's microfoundations of monetary theory," MPRA Paper 78917, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Mary A. O'Sullivan, 2022. "History as heresy: Unlearning the lessons of economic orthodoxy," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(2), pages 297-335, May.

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