© 1993 by British Society for the Philosophy of Science
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A Note on Fundamental Theory and Idealizations in Economics and Physics
Modern economics, with its use of advanced mathematical methods, is often looked upon as the physics of the social sciences. It is here argued that deductive analyses are more important in economics than in physics, because the economists more seldom can confirm phenomenological laws directly. The economist has to use assumptions from fundamental theory when trying to bridge the gap between observations and phenomenological laws. Partly as a result of the difficulties of establishing phenomenological laws, analyses of idealized model-economies play a more important, but mainly heuristic role, in economics.