Economics is dominated by model building, therefore a comprehension of how such models work is vital to understanding the discipline. This book provides a critical analysis of the economist's favorite tool, and as such will be an enlightening read for some, and an intriguing one for others.

1. Friedman's Essays in positive economics : logical consistency and validity -- 2. The singularity of Friedman's conception of the positive-normative distinction -- 3. The disappearance of the normative framework from Walras's economics -- 4. Friedman's method for doing positive economics -- 5....

1. Introduction / Hilary Putnam and Vivian Walsh -- 2. Smith after Sen / Vivian Walsh -- 3. Sen after Putnam / Vivian Walsh -- 4. For ethics and economics without the dichotomies / Hilary Putnam -- 5. Tragedy and human capabilities : a response to Vivian Walsh / Martha Nussbaum -- 6. Openness...

The premise on which this paper builds is that modern economists unduly neglect history. The paper aims to support the argument that this is undesirable by looking at past episodes in the development of economic thought where economics has benefited from a historical approach. The first example...

The purpose of this paper is to consider why Scottish Enlightenment thought should have generated a particular theory of economic development. Ideas about economic development in the Scottish Enlightenment period involve a certain circularity. One of the key arguments was that economic...