Science and Ideology in Economic, Political, and Social Thought

This paper has two sources: One is my own research in three broad areas: business cycles, economic measurement and social choice. In all of these fields I attempted to apply the basic precepts of the scientific method as it is understood in the natural sciences. I found that my effort at using natural science methods in economics was met with little understanding and often considerable hostility. I found economics to be driven less by common sense and empirical evidence, then by various ideologies that exhibited either a political or a methodological bias, or both. This brings me to the second source: Several books have appeared recently that describe in historical terms the ideological forces that have shaped either the direct areas in which I worked, or a broader background. These books taught me that the ideological forces in the social sciences are even stronger than I imagined on the basis of my own experiences. The scientific method is the antipode to ideology. I feel that the scientific work that I have done on specific, long standing and fundamental problems in economics and political science have given me additional insights into the destructive role of ideology beyond the history of thought orientation of the works I will be discussing

Frank E. Seidman Award in Political Economy

Scanned from the originalThe Frank E. Seidman Distinguished Award in Political Economy was established in memory of Frank E. Seidman by Mr. and Mrs. P.K. Seidman

Welfare and Competition : The Economics of a Fully Employed Economy

xvi.450 hal.;ill.;22 c

Sur deux principes de maximation du profit et quelques-unes de leurs implications

SUMMARY Pränt maximisât ion is tenu willi inauy meanings iiid the present article explores some implirations of two of these meanings maximisation of the present discounted value of expected future profits and maximisation ot the internal rate of retùm While in long -mn equilibriuiu the two prin ciples lead to the same result in disequilibrium they lead to different entre preneurial policies concerning current production investment and the repla cement of equipment and the policy of maximising the internal rate of return leads to more economical utilisation of capital Winch of the two maximisation principles is the more rational for the entrepreneur to follow depends on what factors limit the scale and rate of expansion of his operations The internal rate of return is the proper magnitude for him tu maximise if the availability of capital or borrowers or lenders risk is the limiting factor The welfare implications of the dioice of one or the other principle of profit maximisation constitute large subject of which only few selected aspects are discussed here Tentative conclusions are given concerning the influence of the maximising policy on a. the ratt of capital accumulation the allocation of investment funds among different industries and fields of activity and the degree of mechanisation of current investmentScitovsky Tibor. Sur deux principes de maximation du profit et quelques-unes de leurs implications. In: Revue économique, volume 6, n°3, 1955. pp. 368-386