What Should Economists Do?

by James M. Buchanan

Book Overview

This volume is a collection of sixteen essays on three general topics: the methodology of economics, the applicability of economic reasoning to political science and other social sciences, and the relevance of economics as moral philosophy. Several essays are published here for the first time, including "Professor Alchian on Economic Method," "Natural and Artifactual Man," and "Public Choice and Ideology."

This book provides relatively easy...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0913966657
• ISBN13: 9780913966655
• Release Date: November 1979
• Publisher: Liberty Fund
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 18 to 10 years
• Grade Range: Postsecondary to Grade 5

Customer Reviews

Big ideas in a little book

What Should Economists Do is a little book with some big ideas. It deals with many complicated subjects. It examines the relation of economics to other academic disciplines. It examines what economists can learn from and teach to other academics. It examines the scientific method in economics. It examines the use of a-priori axioms and the empirical testing of hypotheses. It examines subjectivism in economics. It examines human nature. It looks at the human desire for self-improvement. It delves into political economy. It examines Public Choice theory and the conflict between public financed education and academic freedom. Above all it examines the nature of human choice and argues against deterministic notions of "scientific choice" that preclude real choice. What Should Economists do makes you think critically about modern Neoclassical economics. If choice is fully defined by utility functions, can there be real choice? How can the mathematical approach to social theory that economists favor be reconciled with the analysis of real people and real institutions? What can different disciplines learn from each other? This book is one of Buchanan's' best works. It is one of his most readable too. It should be read, not only by economists, but by anyone who is interested in social theory.