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Underdetermination in Economics. The Duhem-Quine Thesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2008

K. R. Sawyer ,
Clive Beed  and
H. Sankey
K. R. Sawyer
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
Clive Beed
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne (Retired)
H. Sankey
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
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Extract

This paper considers the relevance of the Duhem-Quine thesis in economics. In the introductory discussion which follows, the meaning of the thesis and a brief history of its development are detailed. The purpose of the paper is to discuss the effects of the thesis in four specific and diverse theories in economics, and to illustrate the dependence of testing the theories on a set of auxiliary hypotheses. A general taxonomy of auxiliary hypotheses is provided to demonstrate the confounding of auxiliary hypotheses with the testing of economic theory.

Type
Essays
Information
Economics & Philosophy , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , April 1997 , pp. 1 - 23
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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