Wissenschaftlicher Fortschritt in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften: Einige Bemerkungen

First, the points of view of economists regarding falsificationism, scientific revolutions and scientific research programmes are discussed. Next, hardly debatable scientific progress regarding empirical economic research in recent decades is described. Then it is asked whether there have been scientific revolutions with respect to economic theory or the basic methodology of the economic approach. Taking this term seriously, there have been at best two revolutions since the time of Adam Smith. Today, economists share a common paradigm, which also builds the hard core of their scientific research programme. But while this hard core is hardly questioned, the safety belt is discussed the more. Nevertheless, most today’s economic research can be considered as being ‘normal science’. Even if this kind of research is not without problems, there is no reason to assess it as being of secondary value.