The Limits of Economic Science : Essays on Methodology

1 Introduction -- The New World of Economics -- On Defining Boundaries of Science -- Purposes as Limitations on Theory -- Concluding Comments -- On the Methodological Boundaries of Economic Analysis: A Review and Partial Synthesis -- The Logic of Choice and Its Boundaries -- From a Logic of Choice to a Predictive Science -- From a Predictive Science to Control -- On the Rise of Predictive Science -- Concluding Comments -- 3 The Nonrational Domain and the Limits of Economic Analysis -- The Perceived Scope of the Economic Method -- The Nonrational Domain -- Nonrationality and the Necessity of Social Interaction -- Concluding Comments -- 4 The Neoclassicists vs. the Austrians: A Partial Reconciliation of Competing World Views -- The Nature of the Discipline -- The Predictability of Human Action -- The Nature and Purpose of Theory -- Concluding Comments -- 5 The Necessary Normative Context of Positive Economics -- Economics as a Science -- Einstein, Friedman, and Economics -- The Catch-22 in Science -- The Individual, Freedom, and Science -- Concluding Comments -- 6. The Economic and Social Philosophy of Albert Einstein: A Study in Comparative Methods -- Views on Labor Markets -- Views on Technology -- Remedies for Recession -- Views on World Trade -- The Philosophical Triangle: Physics, Economics, and Dostoevsky -- Concluding Comments -- 7 PostScript -- Conceptual vs. Practical Limits to Science -- Free Will and Economic Science -- The Limits of “as if”.