A Structuralist Theory of Economics (Routledge INEM Advances in Economic Methodology)

Economists have long grappled with the problem of how economic theories relate to empirical evidence: how can abstract mathematized theories be used to produce empirical claims? How are such theories applied to economic phenomena? What does it mean to "test "economic theories? This book introduces, explains, and develops a structural philosophy of economics which addresses these questions and provides a unifying philosophical/logical basis for a general methodology of economics. The book begins by introducing a rigorous view of the logical foundations and structure of scientific theories based upon the work of Alfred Tarski, Patrick Suppes, Karl Marx, and others. Using and combining their methods, the book then goes on to reconstruct important economic theories - including utility theory, game theory, Marxian economics, Sraffian economic theory, and econometrics - proving all the main theorems and discussing the key claims and the empirical applicability of each theory. Through these discussions, this book presents, in a systematic fashion, a general philosophy of economics grounded in the structural view. Offering rigorous formulations of important economic theories, A Structuralist Theory of Economics will be invaluable to all readers interested in the logic, philosophy, and methodology of economics. It will also appeal particularly to those interested in economic theory. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series page 3 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Preface 11 Acknowledgments 12 1 Introduction 14 1.1 A new view of scientific theories 16 1.2 The S-view in action: an example 20 1.3 Problems of the S-view 22 2 Models and structures 26 2.1 The rise of the concept of structure 26 2.2 Models for first-order logic 27 2.3 Elementary classes in economics 32 2.4 Theory of classes 38 2.5 The general concept of structure 43 3 The structuralist view of theories 48 3.1 Origins 48 3.2 The concept and relevance of a metatheory 48 3.3 The ways of theoretical practice 51 3.4 A dialogue between the L-view and the S-view 51 3.5 The structuralist view of theories 61 4 Idealization and concretization 68 4.1 Motivation 68 4.2 Empirical structures 70 4.3 Construction of idealized models 72 4.4 Concretization 78 5 Measurement 82 5.1 The nature of measurement 82 5.2 Representational measurement 85 5.3 Measurement by means of theory 87 5.4 Measurement without theory 91 6 A general concept of an economy 95 6.1 Fixing the reference of economic theories 95 6.2 A general concept of an economic system 95 7 Preference and utility 103 7.1 Introduction 103 7.2 The conditions of Debreu and Mas-Colell 105 7.3 Motivation 106 7.4 The algebraic theory of difference 107 7.5 The geometric theory of difference 110 7.6 The theory of preference 119 7.7 The empirical meaning of differentiability 120 7.8 New foundations of preference theory 124 8 The logical structure of game theory 127 8.1 Introduction 127 8.2 Finding the (lost) beings, stories and narratives 128 8.3 Conceptual prolegomena 129 8.4 Concepts of strategy 130 8.5 Probability spaces induced by behavioral strategies 132 8.6 The equilibrium concept 136 8.7 The game concept 138 8.8 Empirical applicability of GT 142 9 Abstract labor and labor-value 145 9.1 Introduction 145 9.2 Abstract labor 147 9.3 Market-determination of abstract labor 153 9.4 Labor-value 158 9.5 The meaning and relevance of abstract labor 166 10 Classical economics 168 10.1 Introduction 168 10.2 The fundamental Marxian theorem 169 10.3 General equilibrium 173 10.4 Equilibrium 176 10.5 The empirical claim 185 11 The logical structure of Sraffian economic theory 187 11.1 Introduction 187 11.2 The conceptual framework 187 11.3 The basic theory-element 190 11.4 The standard commodity 192 11.5 The empirical claim 193 11.6 What can/ought be done? 194 12 The logical structure of econometrics 195 12.1 Motivation 195 12.2 Real concrete DGPS 196 12.3 Random experiments 197 12.4 Probability spaces 198 12.5 Random variables 202 12.6 Conditional probability as fundamental 204 12.7 From conditional to absolute probability 207 12.8 Statistical inference 208 12.9 The logical structure of econometrics 209 References 212 Author Index 220 Subject Index 224 A,structuralist,theory,of,economics Economists have long grappled with the problem of how economic theories relate to empirical evidence. This book introduces, explains, and develops a structural philosophy of which addresses this issue. Applying the work of Patrick Suppes, Karl Marx and others, it reconstructs some important economic theories using the structuralist approach.