What economists do: (1) path-breaking contributions

Chapter 3 is based on the study of the motivations given by the Nobel Prize committee for awarding the prize and categorizes the path-breaking contributions that motivated a prize. Six types of contributions were found. There were traditional normal-scientific contributions, such as improving existing methods or coming up with a new idea that can explain anomalies in a specific field. It could also be the introduction of new methods, from early winners that started the mathematization of economic theory to late winners who introduced laboratory and field experiments. There were, however, also “mini-revolutions” that affected a large part of the economics field without replacing fundamental features of the research strategy. The introduction of rational expectations, transaction cost, information problems and game theory led to such large-scale changes in Economics, according to the Nobel Prize committee. Replacing simple maximization assumption with behavioural assumptions grounded in psychological and sociological research could be seen as another such mini-revolution.