A Review of Kuhnian and Lakatosian “Explanations” in Economics

A Review of Kuhnian and Lakatosian “Explanations” in Economics

By

S.A. Drakopoulos A.D.Karayiannis

University of Athens University of Piraeus

January 2005

Abstract

In the last few decades the influence on economics of the ideas of T. Kuhn and I. Lakatos
was considerable. The increasing use of terms like “paradigms” and “scientific research
programmes” in almost every field of economics, is indicative of the influence of these two
philosophers. Furthermore, the introduction of the ideas of Kuhn and Lakatos in economics
gave the stimulus for work on the nature of growth of economic knowledge. The paper
starts by presenting the main influence of T. Kuhn on theories concerned with the
evolution of economic theory. It continues with a review of the main criticisms regarding
the appropriateness and applicability of Kuhnian ideas for economics. The same approach
is followed in the case of I. Lakatos. After a classification and discussion of the main
findings, the paper attempts to offer an interpretation of the general impact of these two
philosophers science on ideas relating to the development of economic theories.

JEL Classification Numbers: B0, A1

Key words: Development of economics, Method, Kuhn, Lakatos

An earlier version of this paper was presented to the 5^th conference of the Greek
Historians of Economic Thought in May 2003. We thank the participants for comments and
especially M. Zouboulakis and M. Psalidopoulos. We would also like to thank two
anonymous referees of this journal for valuable comments and suggestions. We also
acknowledge M. Blaug and R. Backhouse for suggestions. The usual disclaimer applies.

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