On behalf of Antonio Maria: recent tendencies in economic methodology

Abstract

This is a discussion about the recent trends in the field of economic methodology. I argue that methodologists now agree that the evaluation of economic theories based on universal fixed rules has proven to be sterile. Instead, they tend to focus the methodological options actually made by economists in their effort to build theories. Nevertheless, some very general questions about the nature of science and the relation between theory and empirical work still need to be addressed. I use as an illustration of my point of view the case of behavioral economics.economic methodology methodological rules behavioral economics