Economic Science and the Global Crisis

Abstract

The ongoing crisis of the world economy has significantly affected many walks of social life and, among them, the standing of economic science and its present and potential role in designing institutions and formulating policies. The scientific circles and research centers are increasingly criticized for not having been able to predict the crisis and for not being capable of finding ready remedies to the manifold developments and manifestations of the crisis. The paper lays out some epistemological facts and methodological reasons because of which Economics cannot and will never be in the position of identifying hard and fast answers and unique solutions. The reasons for the peculiar ambiguity of economic diagnoses and the equally indecisive policy recommendations are deep seated and of a fundamental nature. Economic realities are exceedingly complex and the analysis of their various aspects naturally leads to widely differentiated and frequently contradictory findings. The weights to be attached to analytical implications of such various aspects cannot be determined on an objective, scientifically verified basis; as these weights depend on the subjective assessments of the researchers and ultimately turn out arbitrary and unpredictable, it is only natural for various approaches to come out with widely differing conclusions...