Re: Economics As "Science of Sociology"

[Bruce McFarling <ecbm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 11 Dec 2001 12:49:14 -0500, Gunnar Tómasson
<gunnar.tomasson@xxxxxxxxxxx>

>If, as Robert Solow suggests, "macroeconomics cannot be
>"exact", it has to work by rough analogy and empirical
>compromise," ...

I was rather referring to the anti-scientific practice
of restricting "Economic Science" to what can be given
a foundation in a maximising model.

I am not sure in the above that Solow is completely
willing to admit that economic theory built under
such arbitrary restrictive conditions will always be
inescapably incomplete.  Certainly *given* such
a restriction, it would never be possible to arrive
at a workable macroeconomics with ad hoccery.
Epicycles are, after all, one symptom of an
inadequate theoretical foundation.


Virtually,

Bruce McFarling, Shortland, NSW
ecbm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx