A Review of Kuhnian and Lakatosian “Explanations” in Economics

Table 4

As we mentioned, Lakatos approach is also used by the historians of economics to
explain the development of specific theories. More specifically, Latsis (1972, pp. 208-212)
by employing the key Popperian term of “situational determinism”, identified a Lakatosian
scientific research programme in economics in the neoclassical theory of the firm. More
specifically, he stressed that both the theories of perfect competition and monopolistic
competition form parts of the same dominant research programme “with one identifiable
hard core, one protective belt and one positive heuristic” (1972, p, 208). He also
suggested that this “neoclassical programme was degenerating” (Ibid., p. 234). Similarly,
de Marchi (1976) finds clear indications of a SRP in international trade theory which is
based on the work of Ohlin, Lerner and Samuelson.⁷ In the same line, Bensel and Elmslie
(1992) argue that the generalization of Heckscher- Ohlin- Samuelson which incorporates

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