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THE METHODOLOGY OF POSITIVE ECONOMICS 
Milton Friedman's Essay at 50 
 
Two-day CONFERENCE in Rotterdam, the Netherlands 
12 - 13 December, 2003 
Register now! 
 
Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics (EIPE) 
 
 
 
Theme and Speakers 
 
Milton Friedman's "The Methodology of Positive Economics" [F53] was published in 1953.
This essay of just 43 pages is generally acknowledged to be the most important piece of
methodological writing in 20th century economics, and it remains the most influential and
controversial statement about the philosophical foundations of economic theorising.
During the last half a century, a large number of commentaries of F53 have been published.
Yet, after all these decades, it is fair to say that the case is not closed: the economics
profession remains divided between those who espouse Friedman's basic ideas and those who
oppose them; while experts in the philosophy of economics remain divided about how best to
go about interpreting and assessing the message of F53. The conference brings together the
best expertise available to produce a collective assessment of F53 on the occasion of its
50th anniversary.
 
Papers have been specifically commissioned on carefully circumscribed topics so as to
complement one another and taken together to cover the major topics that F53 itself
addresses or generates. They cover topics such as the role of assumptions and predictions,
causation and explanation, mathematical formalism and the nature of empirical evidence,
developments in the theories of rationality and the firm. The list of contributors
includes Roger Backhouse, Daniel Hammond, Wade Hands, Kevin Hoover, Arjo Klamer, Deirdre
McCloskey, Uskali Maki, Tom Mayer, Melvin Reder, Chris Starmer, Jack Vromen, and Oliver
Williamson. The contributors have been asked to put themselves in the shoes of a 21st
century reader wishing to check by herself what to make of F53. In the light of [1] the
contents of the essay; [2] the historical and intellectual context of the essay; and [3]
the later developments of economics and its methodology - what is she advised to think of
its descriptive and prescriptive adequacy? Answering such questions will teach us a lot
about economics, its development and its methodology.
 
For the registration form and further information, see
http://www.eur.nl/fw/philecon/Friedman53.html or mail [log in to unmask]
 
 
 
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