Abstract
This entry maps the use of ampliative inference or abduction in economics. Abduction does not just integrate numerous economic concepts but has been in continuous use since classical economics. The integration of abductive elements in economics is better understood after Charles Sander Peirce’s (1839–1914) clear delineation of a logic underlying ampliative inference. His methodology of science, which includes abductive inference as the initial step that suggests novel explanatory hypotheses to be tested, can integrate the prevalent (Millian) deductivist and (Popperian) falsificationist methodologies among economists. Although the current interest in abduction in economics has taken root within a very diverse group of scholars, their account of abduction reveals significant overlaps on the importance of experience, intuition, creativity, and detective-like research instead of mechanical textbook-like procedures. Such consensus among heterogenous schools of thought in economics on the most important elements of research in their discipline highlights their shared elements and can contribute to the unification of the discipline.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bacon, F. (2011). The works of Francis Bacon (Vol. 4). Cambridge University Press.
Crespo, R., Tohmé, F., & Heymann, D. (2010). Abducing the crisis. In L. Magnani et al. (Eds.), Model based reasoning in science and technology. Springer.
Dasgupta, P., & David, P. (1994). Towards a new economics of science. Research Policy, 23, 487–521.
Friedman, M., & Savage, J. (1948). The utility analysis of choice involving risk. Journal of Political Economy, 56, 279–304.
Gabbay, D., & Woods, J. (2005). The reach of abduction: Insight and trial. Elsevier.
Hands, W. (2001). Reflections without rules. Economic methodology and contemporary science theory. Cambridge University Press.
Harris, F., & Hoover, K. (1980). Abduction and the new riddle of induction. The Monist, 63, 320–341.
Heckman, J., & Singer, B. (2017). Abducting economics. American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings, 107, 298–302.
Hirsch, A., & de Marchi, N. (1990). Milton Friedman. Economics in theory and practice. The University of Michigan Press.
Hollander, S. (1985). The economics of John Stuart Mill. Volume I: Theory and method. University of Toronto Press.
Hoover, K. (2019). Models, truth, and analytic inference in economics. CHOPE working paper, no. 2019-01. Center for the History of Political Economy, Duke University.
Hoover, K., & Wible, J. (2020). Ricardian inference: Charles S. Peirce, economics, and scientific method. Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, 56, 521–557.
Klein, J., & Giglioni, G. (2020). Francis Bacon. In Edward N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (fall 2020 ed.). Stanford University Press. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2020/entries/francis-bacon/
Lawson, T. (1997). Economics and reality. Routledge.
Lawson, T. (2003). Reorienting economics. Routledge.
Lawson, T. (2009). Applied economics, contrast explanation, and asymmetric information. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 33, 405–419.
Magnani, L. (2009). Abductive cognition: The epistemological and eco-cognitive dimension of hypothetical reasoning. Springer.
Mill, J. S. (1843). A system of logic, ratiocinative and inductive (Vol. 1–2). Cambridge University Press.
Peirce, C. S. ([1879] 1967). Note on the theory of the economy of research. Operations Research, 15, 643–648.
Peirce, C. S. (1931). In C. Hartshorne & P. Wiess (Eds.), Collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce (Vol. 1–8). Harvard University Press.
Redman, D. (1997). The rise of political economy as a science. Methodology and the classical economists. MIT Press.
Rescher, N. (1978). Peirce’s philosophy of science. University of Notre Dame Press.
Rescher, N. (1989). Cognitive economy. The economic dimension of the theory of knowledge. University of Pittsburgh Press.
Sugden, R. (2002). Credible worlds: The status of theoretical models in economics. In U. Mäki (Ed.), Fact & fiction in economics. Models, realism, & social construction. Cambridge University Press.
Sugden, R. (2009). Credible worlds, capacities and mechanisms. Erkenntnis, 70, 3–27.
Sugden, R. (2013). How fictional accounts can explain. Journal of Economic Methodology, 20, 237–243.
Tohmé, F., & Crespo, R. (2013). Abduction in economics: A conceptual framework and its model. Synthese, 190, 4215–4237.
Urbach, P. (1982). Francis Bacon as a precursor to Popper. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 33, 113–132.
Urbach, P. (1987). Francis Bacon’s philosophy of science: An account and a reappraisal. Open Court.
Wible, J. (1998). The economics of science. Methodology and epistemology as if economics really mattered. Routledge.
Wible, J. (2014). Peirce’s economic model in the First Harvard Lecture on pragmatism. Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, 50, 548–580.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Mabsout, R. (2023). Abduction and Economics. In: Magnani, L. (eds) Handbook of Abductive Cognition. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10135-9_55
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10135-9_55
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-10134-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-10135-9
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsReference Module Computer Science and Engineering