Evaluating the historiography of the Great Depression: explanation or single-theory driven?

Rick Szostak

Journal of Economic Methodology, 2005, vol. 12, issue 1, 35-61

Abstract: Following James Rule and Colin Clark, a single-theory-driven approach to scientific inquiry which focuses on testing particular theories can be distinguished from an explanation-driven approach which is open to all observations and whose results do not cease to have value with the passing of a particular theory. Several 'decision points' in the historiography of the Great Depression are examined and it is shown that the decisions made at each point reflect a single-theory-driven orientation. It is argued that the single-theory-driven approach likely characterizes other fields of Economics, and also that this paper's method of applying a 'test' to various decision points in the evolution of economic thought is of widespread utility. The likely cost of a single-theory-driven bias in terms of our collective understanding is discussed.

Keywords: Great Depression; historiography; methodology; macroeconomics; structuralism; technology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
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DOI: 10.1080/1350178042000330896

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