Philosophy, Method and Status of Agricultural Economics

W. B. Back

American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 1961, vol. 43, issue 4_Part_I, 898-909

Abstract: The men whom some economists thus tend to despise they call "methodologists." Perhaps they should be despised. What is the use of a man who studies scientific method? He may explain to students how scientists reached their new theories, but this is unlikely to help the students reach new theories of their own. He may generalize, and lay down cannons of inquiry. But there is no technique for forming good hypotheses which can be taught. Discussions of scientific method are often trite, and seldom useful.—I. M. D. Little, A Critique of Welfare Economics, Introduction.

Date: 1961
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