Can econometric analysis make (agricultural) economics a hard science? Critical remarks and implications for economic methodology

This paper argues that mainstream economics does not follow the positivist research tradition it (often implicitly) claims to follow and expresses some serious doubt that econometrics in particular can make economics a hard science. Mathematical rigour and sophisticated statistical techniques may be regarded as persuasive analytical tools in economics, but their mere application does not guarantee good research practice. The paper outlines an alternative methodological view of pragmatic instrumentalism in which the well known tools of economic analysis can find a new place. Instead of relying on a narrow rule that purports to produce universal truth, this view encourages to increase the target area for questioning and probing. Much more attention is paid to the communicative aspects of scientific methodology - in which terms an analysis is framed, and under what conditions, to whom, by whom, and by which means it is articulated.