In this thesis I give an account of Marx's methodology in his critique of political economy. By methodology I mean methods of investigation and presentation (a distinction made by Marx himself), and ideas on method andndash; the methods of other writers, his own, and scientific method in general. I have tried to explain why Marx devoted so much of his time to this critique, what methods he employed in criticizing political economy, how he was able to make the Grundrisse a significant advance over his previous efforts, and where, in the 'final' version of this critique, some of his fundamental arguments can be refuted. The ideal commentary on Marx's social and political thought (and here I part company with many commentators) presupposes athorough understanding of the economic work on which, according to Marx, it rests. In these economic studies, the commentator is confronted with Marx at work on the theory of political economy, using methods drawn from the philosophy, logic, historical research, and political economy of his time. His methods and ideas on method are of paramount importance in grasping the nature and content of his critique, since the material to which he addressed himself, and the substance of his work, differ very greatly from what we recognize today as economics. The originality of my thesis lies in the distinction drawn between political economy and modern economics with reference to the elucidation of Marx's work, the detailed consideration of his use of terms from nineteenth-century logical science of both the Hegelian and traditional pre-Hegelian types, the claim that important methodological innovations were recorded in the Introduction (1857) to the Grundrisse, and the specific criticisms offered of the fundamental arguments of Capital. Since Marx's critique of political economy, begun in 1844, was never finished, and since its scope and form were altered many times, I discuss his numerous plans for this work in chronological order, in conjunction with an account of his economic studies, in so far as they have been preserved in published form. I also consider his methods and ideas on method in selected works written between 1842 and mid-1857. This material supports my contention that three methodological innovations are recorded in the Introduction (1857) to the Grundrisse andndash; innovations in his method of investigation, in his ideas on a scientific method for presenting his critique, and in his plan for the critique as a whole. The first innovation is that he undertook a thorough investigation of the meanings and logical interrelations of the fundamental concepts of political economy; the second, that he identified a version of logical synthesis as the 'scientifically correct method' to be followed in his presentation; the third, that he decided to open the substantial part of his critique with a discussion of the economic category 'capital'. These innovations are elucidated, in the central chapter of my thesis, by examining their place in Marx's arguments in this text. In considering the remainder of the Grundrisse notebooks, I contend that in his methods and studies Marx did not reject the content of the Introduction, but developed his ideas further in the same direction. I also argue that his use of certain logical methods of investigation and his reasoning behind certain conclusions about the nature and future of capitalist society can be seen with exceptional clarity in the Grundrisse. These methods include his efforts to formulate correct questions and clear distinctions, to analyse the conceptual counterparts of economic phenomena as they appear, to produce conceptual counterparts of economic phenomena as they really are, and to use 'idealist' expressions and 'ideal' formulations without introducing errors. I consider his work in the Grundrisse on value, capital, labour, and profit, and the relationship of these investigations to his critique of political economy the published volumes, and the finished product, in so far as its outlines can be discerned. I discuss the plans and publications which followed the writing of the Introduction to the Grundrisse in August/September 1857, so as to establish the context of volume one of Capital, the only volume of the critique which Marx himself prepared for the publishers and corrected for further editions and translations. In my consideration of Marx's fundamental contentions in this work andndash; contentions about the commodity, labour, and value andndash; I criticize his version of an objective view of value, his claim that labour is the sole 'property' (apart from the property of being material things) common to the 'material bodies of commodities', and his acceptance of the view held by Adam Smith and David Ricardo (among others) that skilled labour is an arithmetic multiple of something called 'simple labour'. I consider a criticism previously made of Marx's work in Capital andndash; the criticism that his propositions are unfalsifiable andndash; and conclude that it is mistaken, since his claims can be refuted, though not with statistical data. Marx's last recorded comments on methodology in connection with the critique of political economy appear in his Notes (1879-80) on Adolph Wagner. My consideration of this little-used text reveals that there is a striking continuity in the problems considered and methods employed between the Notes of 1879-80 and the Manuscripts of 1844. In a final chapter I discuss the scientific status of some of Marx's claims about capitalist society, and the general relation of his economic critique to his political thought. I conclude that attempts to deduce a Marxian view of reality, from which his theories are thought logically to follow, are at best misleading, and that his methodology was a highly eclectic mixture of procedures, rather than something distinct and abstractable from his writings, as certain commentators have claimed.

Typescript (photocopy) / vii, 274 leaves ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dept. of Economics, University of Adelaide, 1984

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1984 B76 / Master of Science

This thesis is an exercise in applied methodology. Ideas in the history and philosophy of science which have proved to be influential in the methodology of economics, and in shaping economists' self-image in this regard, are selected for closer analysis and criticism. The main ideas that are addressed are those of empiricism, with emphasis on the methodological falsificationism of Karl Popper and Imre Lakatos, and Laudan's problem solving model of scientific progress . The thesis examines the relationship between empirical evidence, in the form of both econometric test results and stylized facts, and the development of theories about exchange rates and the open economy. This analysis begins with Cassel's formulation of purchasing power parity theory in 1916, through the elasticities, absorption, and Mundell-Fleming models of exchange rates and the balance of payments, up to the present day monetary and asset market models. This is done with regard to the broad methodological issues examined earlier in the thesis. Some of the main empirical and methodological difficulties in testing such theories are addressed, with particular reference to the role played by the Duhem-Quine thesis and the ceteris paribus assumption. Although some of these difficulties may be regarded as a matter of degree compared to similar problems in the natural sciences, it is argued that this difference is significant for the workability of falsification in economics . Moreover, the presence of hypotheses about expectations in many economic theories appears to be a substantive difference such that the difficulties posed by the Duhem-Quine thesis apply with much greater force in a social science like economics. The main conclusions are that neither the Popperian nor Lakatosian versions of falsification are seriously practiced in the area of exchange rate economics and that, unlike the position taken by advocates of falsification such as Mark Blaug, it would be inappropriate and misguided to do so. A tentative case is made, with some reference to the theories surveyed in this thesis, for the possibly greater relevance of Laudan' s more pragmatic problem solving model for the methodology of economics, particularly as regards his analysis and emphasis on conceptual problem solving in the progress of knowledge.

Orientador: Sebastião Ribeiro Neto Guedes / Banca: José Ricardo Fucidji / Banca: Celso Pereira Neris Junior / Resumo: Neste trabalho de conclusão, o objetivo principal é analisar a crítica feita pelo autor britânico Tony Lawson aos métodos dedutivistas ou matemático-formalistas que caracterizam a maior parte da pesquisa feita em Economia nos últimos 80 anos ou mais. A hipótese a ser investigada é a de que o autor não realiza uma crítica ontológica dos métodos que critica. A confirmação dessa hipótese traz problemas, pois esse tipo de crítica é fundamental à concepção teórico-filosófica da qual o autor faz parte, o Realismo Crítico. Ao final da análise será possível confirmar que Lawson indica elementos muito importantes para entender a ascensão do projeto matematizante na Economia, mas o autor não realiza uma crítica ontológica completa dessas concepções. Em geral, esse caráter incompleto está diretamente relacionado ao tipo de abstração feita por Lawson, que isola (em determinado nível, por abstração) as práticas teóricas da academia (especificamente em Economia) e acaba por ofuscar a conexão desse tipo de prática com uma concepção totalizante de sociedade. Para se chegar a esse resultado será preciso, no primeiro capítulo, defender que a crítica feita por Lawson ao dedutivismo a partir do Realismo Crítico é válida e, portanto, a presente análise é pertinente. No segundo capítulo, para investigar a hipótese levantada, será preciso, ao mesmo tempo, defender a importância de uma crítica ontológica e mostrar a partir dos textos do autor que ele não realiza esse procedimento. No último capítulo... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: In this work, the main objective is to analyze the criticism made by the British author Tony Lawson to the deductive or mathematical-formalist methods that characterize most of the research done in Economics in the last 80 years or so. The hypothesis to be investigated is that the author does not perform an ontological critique of the methods he criticizes. The confirmation of this hypothesis brings problems, since this type of criticism is fundamental to the theoretical-philosophical conception of which the author is part, Critical Realism. At the end of the analysis it will be possible to confirm that Lawson indicates very important elements to understand the rise of the mathematical project in the economics, but the author does not realize a complete ontological critique of these conceptions. In general, this incomplete character is directly related to Lawson's type of abstraction, which isolates (at some level) the theoretical practices of academy (specifically in economics) and, with this blurs the connection between this specific practice and a totalizing conception of society. In order to achieve this result, it will be necessary, in the first chapter, to defend that Lawson's critical realist critique of deductivism is valid and, therefore, the present analysis is pertinent. In the second chapter, to investigate the raised hypothesis, it will be necessary, at the same time, to defend the importance of an ontological critique and to show from the author's texts that he ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

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The basic objective of this thesis is to identify some of the basic trends tending to shape the Canadian economy. The procedure followed was to examine economic theory and previous forecasting studies to determine methodological principles and apply these principles to estimate the possible future course of the Canadian economy between 1965 and 1980. No comprehensive economic theory appears to be presently developed to explain and therefore to form a complete basis for predicting the economic growth of a nation. In an effort to make economic theory manageable, many variables affecting economic growth and development such as those of sociology tend to be ignored in quantitative terms. Together with these unquantifiable variables, it is not known how many non-economic factors affect economic growth. It would seem to be these many unknown factors that tend to cause errors in the results of long range economic forecasts. Economic growth, defined as the expansion of a nation's capacity to produce, in an already advanced industrial economy, is heavily dependent on the quantity and quality of the nation's labour force, natural resources, real capital, and the technological level in the society. These basic determinants are tempered by the sociological, institutional, and consumption trends or factors within the economy. Although many articles have been written on various aspects of economic growth, the present state of knowledge does not appear to be appreciably past the theorizing stage. As no complete theory of economic growth and development appears to exist, the long range economic forecaster may gain some insights from economic theory but depend very much on his own resources to make various forecasts. The most common method to determine output appears to necessitate a population forecast from which a labour force estimate is made and then with assumptions regarding per-man productivity, an estimate for total output can be made. Sophisticated population and labour force forecasts tend to divide the population into age and sex specific cohorts and then analyze the trends within each of these cohorts. The methodology used in this thesis was based on broad estimates for various trends per thousand population. Due mainly to an expected high birth rate in Canada, the population is anticipated to increase at about 3.8 percent per year to about 25,800,000 by 1980. Of this figure, about 10,000,000 are expected to make up the labour force. The two significant trends expected in the labour force are a large influx of young people and a greater participation of women in the labour force. In this thesis, the total output was separated into agriculture, government and public administration, and commercial non-agricultural sectors. This enabled the analysis of the trends in the work force, productivity, and output in each sector to be examined. The significant trends in output expected are an increase in per-man productivity, but a declining labour force in agriculture, a rather constant productivity per man, but an increase in the total labour force in the government and public administration sector, and an increase in both the labour force and productivity per-man in the commercial non-agricultural sector. The real increase in output of the combined sectors is estimated to approximate 4.6 percent per year between 1965 and 1980 for the Canadian economy. With the total output estimated, an estimate was made as to the division of the output between capital accumulation, government expenditures, consumer expenditures, imports and exports. It was found that the division of the output between these broad sectors tended to be rather stable in relation to the gross national product. Because of this stability, future estimates for the broad categorical spending were based mainly on simple trend projections. From the historical spending patterns, it would appear difficult to justify any drastic changes in the basic spending patterns. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

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Esta dissertação examina a fecundidade da ?nova retórica?, formulada por Perelman&Olbrechts-Tyteca, para compreensão de elementos da obra de Joseph A. Schumpeter. Primeiro faz um apanhado da discussão teórica sobre retórica em economia e, a partir desta discussão, justifica a escolha da nova retórica frente à proposta alternativa de McCloskey. A fundamentação em arcabouços filosóficos diferenciados é o cerne da justificativa. Em seguida, com base nas noções de auditório universal e auditório particular, ela analisa e contrasta as estruturas argumentativas de Teoria do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Capitalismo, Socialismo e Democracia, tomando como linha de interpretação para os trabalhos de Schumpeter a proposta de Swedberg. Avalia como os conteúdos de cada uma das obras são arranjados tanto tendo em vista a persuasão de públicos concretos, quanto sua relação com concepções normativas de Schumpeter. A análise se mostra fecunda para compreensão de questões metodológicas referentes ao seu legado - inclusive pondo à prova elementos da interpretação de Swedberg. A principal constatação, porém, é a abertura da obra de Schumpeter à análise da nova retórica, sinalizada a partir da leitura da mesma e a partir das considerações metodológicas do próprio autor quanto ao estatuto científico da economia. O reconhecimento da economia como campo de premissas de caráter contingente é o ponto de partida e chegada da análise aqui proposta. / This dissertation analyses the fecundity of the new rhetoric for a understanding of some elements of Joseph A. Schumpeter`s work. First of all, it provides a summary of the theoretical discussion about rhetoric within economics, which justifies the choice of new rhetoric as an alternative to McCloskey´s proposal. The different philosophical foundations of both approaches is the main source of this justification. The next step is the analysis of the contrast between two important books wrote by Schumpeter, Theory of Economic Development and Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. This analysis is based on the notions of universal and particular audiences proposed by Perelman&Olbrechts-Tyteca, using Swedberg`s proposal as a line of interpretation of Schumpeter´s work. The dissertation evaluates how the contents of each work are related according to their intent of persuading different concrete audiences as well as in what regards Schumpeter´s normative concepts. The analysis proves to be helpful to comprehend methodological questions with regard to his liability and includes testing some elements of Swedberg`s interpretation. The main finding, however, is how open Schumpeter´s work is to the new rhetoric, as revealed by the content of his writings and by his methodological statements on the scientific statute of economics. The recognition of economics as a field of assumptions of contingent nature is both the starting and the ending point of the proposed analysis.