The "Boundaries" Of Economic Science

["Gunnar Tomasson" <gunnar.tomasson@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

An off-list message suggests that the concept of "The Theory of Economics" as an axiomatic structure - Schumpeter's "branch of logic" - may need clarification. 

 

The following message posted to Gang8 twelve days ago spells out my understanding of the "boundaries" of Economic Science so defined:

 

In his essay on unresolved methodological issues in political economy, John Stuart Mill made two important comments relating to the subject matter of [a fellow Gang8 member's] paper:
 
1.  In the evolution of any field of science, demarcation of the "boundaries" of the science itself comes at the very end of the process.

In the case of economics, whose evolution is yet to be completed, this implies that "classical", "neoclassical", "mainstream", and "monetarist" doctrines are predicated on alternative hypotheses with respect to what may turn out to be the ultimate "boundaries" of economic science.  
 
2.  In  mid-19th century, Mill suggested, conditions were not ripe for demarcation of the ultimate "boundaries" of economic science - specifically, a "satisfactory theory of mind" had yet to be developed. 
 
As I understand it, this means that epistemological clarity with respect to what Robbins termed "the nature and significance of economic science" is of the essence - that, absent such clarity, the economics profession must remain stuck somewhere along the way to they-don't-know-where.
 
In this respect, it is at once telling and misleading to speak of "physics envy" on the part of academics who are stuck somewhere along what may or may not be the path towards the ultimate goal of clearly defined science - telling because it takes epistemological naivety to equate mathematical rigor with substantive scientific worth, misleading because it clouds the fact that the ultimate domain of economic science may prove to be a null set.

With respect to the latter, my own conclusion - based, inter alia, on familiarity with the methodological aspects of theoretical physics gained through original research on atomic structure and related aspects of cosmology - may be briefly summarized as follows:
 
The Monetary Aspects of Entrepreneurial Production - broadly co-extensive with Schumpeter's Circular-Flow view of the production process - represent the only aspect of modern economic activity with respect to which the conceptual precision and deductive reasoning characteristic of theoretical physics can be applied.
 
In other words, I am persuaded that the ultimate "boundaries" of economic science encompass the Monetary Aspects of Entrepreneurial Production, with all other aspects of economics coming within the purview of what passes for common sense and/or the political process among competing and/or cooperating interest groups. 

Gunnar