Routledge Handbook of Macroeconomic Methodology

2 Deduction, induction and abduction

Lars Syll

DOI: 10.4324/9781315745992-4

Introduction

In the mainstream macroeconomic modelling strategy there has for long been an insisting on formalistic (mathematical) modelling, and to some economic methodologists (e.g. Lawson 2015; Syll 2016) this has forced economists to give up on realism and substitute axiomatics for real-world relevance. According to the critique, the deductivist orientation has been the main reason behind the difficulty that mainstream economics has had in terms of understanding, explaining and predicting what takes place in modern economies. But it has also given mainstream economics much of its discursive power – at least as long as no one starts asking tough questions on the ...