Residual categories and the evolution of economic knowledge
One important question regarding individual research strategy in scientific research is which explanatory categories of a given model or framework to maintained, revise, or discard at any given moment in time. On the one hand, this seems to be largely a question of ‘what works’ for the practicing scientist. On the other hand, economic research is a collective process. If the overall research process is of an evolutionary nature, the possibility becomes conceivable that the actual direction of collective conceptual development at any given research frontier follows a trajectory that no individual author in the field would support. These ‘invisible hand’ processes are the subject of this chapter. Based on two case studies, on the development of general equilibrium theory and on transaction cost economics, the chapter undertakes an empirical investigation of discursive formations in economics that display circular patterns of ‘development’, driven by the concptual dynamics of residual categories (Parsons) employed in these formations.
Preprint: 2003-Klaes-ResidualDynamics-preprint.pdf
Bibliographic details of authoritative and final version:
Klaes, M. 2003. Residual Categories and the Evolution of Economic Knowledge. In Hans S. Jensen, Lykke M. Richter, and Morten T. Vendelø eds The Evolution of Scientific Knowledge. Cheltenham: Elgar, pp. 37-56.
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