History of Economic Ideas From Adam Smith to Paul Krugman - Original PDF
نویسندگان: Panayotis G. Michaelides
خلاصه: xv Introduction Economic Science is the Social Science that studies the activities of people associ- ated with the creation of goods and services, with the real-world economic and financial transactions, both at the individual and collective levels. Economic Science is based on one or more theories, which are shaped, co-constructed or replaced with each other with the aid of quantitative analysis (mathematics, statistics, economet- rics, experiments, etc.). Economic Theory, in turn, is an abstract description of the functioning of the extremely complex real world, where new scientific knowledge does not emerge from ‘nowhere’ but arises out of existing knowledge, in a dialectical relationship with the ‘existing’ and very often to its negation. Therefore, science develops and evolves as a ‘living organism’, and often one scientific theory is followed by another in continuity, extension or even opposition to the previous one. Therefore, in order to have a body of knowledge for understanding Economics, we must delve into the various individual ‘truths’ of each theory and, therefore, we must look back to the work of earlier thinkers, within a science that is constantly evolving. This journey of the formation of Economic Theory cannot be seen independently of its social context, since it is within this context that Economic Science has devel- oped, in response to the social conditions that prevailed and their evolution. Therefore, an Economic Theory without knowledge of the deeper internal as well as external causal relationships that have shaped the existing theories would lead to a sterile view.