Rules for Scientific Research in Economics The Alpha-Beta Method
The new research method presented in this book ensures that all economic theories are falsifiable and that irrefutable theories are scientifically sound. Figueroa combines the logically consistent aspects of Popperian and process epistemologies in his alp
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Adolfo Figueroa
Rules for Scientific Research in Economics
Adolfo Figueroa
Rules for Scientific Research in Economics The Alpha-Beta Method
Adolfo Figueroa Pontifical Catholic University of Peru Lima, Peru
ISBN 978-3-319-30541-7 ISBN 978-3-319-30542-4 DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-30542-4
(eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016944657 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland
To Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, my teacher, in memoriam
PREFACE
Why has the growth of scientific knowledge in the social sciences proceeded at a rate that is slower than that of the natural sciences? The basic reason seems to rest upon the differences in the complexity of the reality they study. Compared to the natural sciences, the social sciences seek to explain the functioning of the social world, which is a much more complex world than the physical world. As biologist Edward Wilson pointed out: Everyone knows that the social sciences are hypercomplex. They are inherently far more difficult than physics and chemistry, and as a result they, not physics and chemistry, should be called the hard sciences (1998, p. 183)
Methodology deals with the problem of how to construct scientific knowledge. Is the understanding of the social world more demanding on methodology than understanding the physical world? Economist Paul Samuelson argued in his classic book Foundations of Economic Analysis that indeed this is the case: [This] book may hold some interest for the reader who is curious about the methodology of the social sciences…[I]n a hard, exact science [as physics] a practitioner does not really have to know much about methodology. Indeed, even if he is a definitely misguided methodologist, the subject itself has a self-cleansing property which ren
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