Is Economics Becoming a Hard Science?

by Antoine D'Autume (Editor), Jean Cartelier (Editor)

Is economics becoming a hard science? What power does it offer to explain, predict or influence economic events? These provocative questions are addressed in this major book by a group of acclaimed economists which discusses the scientific status of their discipline and its research agenda. The studies range from epistemological analysis of recent advances in economics to reflections on ways of going beyond the basic limits of contemporary economic theory. The authors are economists reflecting on their practice, rather than scholars specializing in methodological questions, and they address a vast range of different fields, including general equilibrium, money, macroeconomics and econometrics. Bringing together various approaches to the question of scientificity of economics, this major new book is the fruit of the critical attitude of economists attached to the development of their discipline and eager to voice both their convictions and their doubts.

328 pages, Hardcover

Published May 6, 1997