On the Modelling Method in Adam Smith’s Economic Thought

• Authors: Łukasz Hardt

Title variants

PL

O wykorzystaniu modeli w myśli ekonomicznej Adama Smitha

Abstracts

PL

Wiele napisano o ekonomii Adama Smitha, jednakże to, czy jego metoda badawcza może być określona jako wyjaśnianie poprzez modelowanie, jest w dużej mierze nadal niezbadane. Interesujące jest więc przeanalizowanie tego, w jakim stopniu A. Smith może być uznany za budującego modele. Kwestia ta podejmowana jest w niniejszym tekście. Analizując elementy metody wyjaśniania poprzez modelowanie obecne u tych, którzy wywarli wpływ na Smitha, ale też badając jego własną metodę badawczą, wraz z odniesieniem się do jego generalnej refleksji nad tym, jak nauka, w tym ekonomia, powinna być uprawiana, pokazujemy, że jego metoda badawcza w dużej mierze opiera się na modelowaniu zjawisk empirycznych.

EN

Much has been written about Adam Smith’s economics, but one unanswered question is whether his method of inquiry is a modelling approach. It is therefore interesting to investigate to what extent Smith can be described as an economic modeller. Such an investigation is presented in this paper. By studying elements of modelling methods developed by those who influenced Smith, as well as his own ways of doing economics, together with his general insights on how science, including economics, should be practiced, we show that his method of inquiry is hugely based on modelling empirical phenomena.

Keywords

PL

ekonomia klasyczna; Adam Smith; historia modeli i modelowania w ekonomii; prawa ekonomiczne

EN

classical economics; Adam Smith; history of models and modelling in economics; laws of economics

• Publisher: Szkoła Główna Handlowa w Warszawie. Kolegium Analiz Ekonomicznych
• Journal: Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics
• Year: 2023
• Volume: 313
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 3-18

Dates

published

2023

Contributors

author

Łukasz Hardt

• Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, Poland

References

• Ahmad S. [1990], Adam Smith’s Four Invisible Hands, History of Political Economy, 22 (1): 137–144.
• Alexandrova A. [2006], Connecting Economic Models to the Real World: Game Theory and the FCC Spectrum Auctions, Phi¬losophy of the Social Sciences, 36 (2): 173–192.
• Aspromourgos T. [2012], The Machine in Adam Smith’s Economic and Wider Thought, Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 34 (4): 475–490.
• Aydinonat N. E. [2008], The Invisible Hand in Economics: How Economists Explain Unintended Social Consequences, Routledge, London.
• Aydinonat N. E., Köksal E. [2019], Explanatory Value in Context: The Curious Case of Hotelling’s Location Model, The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 26 (5): 879–910.
• Berry Ch. [2012], Adam Smith’s Science of Human Nature, History of Political Economy, 44 (3), 471–492.
• Berry Ch., Paganelli M., Smith C. (eds.) [2013], The Oxford Handbook of Adam Smith, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Black M. [1962], Models and Metaphors: Studies in Language and Philosophy, Cornell University Press, Ithaca.
• Blaug M. [1980], The Methodology of Economics: Or, How Economists Explain, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Blaug M. [1990], Economic Theory in Retrospect, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Cantillon R. [2010/1755], An Essay on Economic Theory, Ludwig von Mises Institute, Auburn.
• Cartwright N. [1983], How the Laws of Physics Lie, Oxford University Press, New York.
• Cartwright N. [1999], The Dappled World: A Study of the Boundaries of Science, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Charles L. [2003], The Visual History of the Tableau Économique, The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 10 (4): 527–550.
• Condorcet M. de [1822/1794], Esquisse d’un Tableau Historique des Progrès de l’Esprit Humain, Chez Masson et Fils, Paris.
• Crombie A. [1994], Styles of Thinking in the European Tradition, Duckworth, London.
• Duke M. [1979], David Hume and Monetary Adjustment, History of Political Economy, 11: 572–587.
• Elmslie B. [2018], Adam Smith’s Discovery of Trade Gravity, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 32 (2): 209–222.
• Frigg R. [2006], Models in Science, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2020/entries/models-science.
• Giere R. [1999], Science Without Laws, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
• Groenewegen P. [1977], Adam Smith and the Division of Labour. A Bicentenary Estimate, Australian Economic Papers, 16 (29): 161–174.
• Hausman D. [1992], The Inexact and Separate Science of Economics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Hardt Ł. [2016], On Similarities in Modelling and Metaphorizing Economic Phenomena, Methodological Studies, 36: 147–174.
• Hardt Ł. [2017], Economics Without Laws: Towards a New Philosophy of Economics, Palgrave, Cham.
• Harré R. [2001], Laws of Nature, in: Newton-Smith H. (ed.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Science: 213–224, Blackwell, Oxford.
• Henderson W. [2006], Evaluating Adam Smith: Creating the Wealth of Nations, Routledge, London–New York.
• Herzog L. [2013], Inventing the Market: Smith, Hegel, and Political Theory, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Hume D. [1882/1758], Essays Moral, Political, and Literary, Longmans, Green, and Co., London.
• Hume D. [2000/1740], A Treatise of Human Nature, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Jevons W. S. [1881], Cantillon and the Nationality of Political Economy, Contemporary Review, 39 (Jan./June).
• Khalil E. [2000], Making Sense of Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand: Beyond Pareto Optimality and Unintended Consequences, Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 22 (1): 49–63.
• Kuehn M. [2006], Knowledge and Belief, in: Haakonssen K. (ed.), The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Philosophy: 389–425, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Levy A. [2012], Models, Fictions, and Realism: Two Packages, Philosophy of Science, 79 (5): 738–748.
• Macfie A. [1971], The Invisible Hand of Jupiter, Journal of the History of Ideas, 32: 595–599.
• Mäki U. [1998], As If, in: Davis J. B., Hands D. W., Mäki U. (eds.), The Handbook of Economic Methodology: 25–27, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.
• Mäki U. [2005], Models Are Experiments, Experiments Are Models, Journal of Economic Methodology, 12 (2): 303–315.
• Mäki U. [2009], Realistic Realism about Unrealistic Models, in: Kincaid H., Ross D. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Economics: 68–98, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Marshall A. [1920], Principles of Economics, Macmillan, London.
• Mill J. S. [1843], A System of Logic: Ratiocinative and Inductive, John W. Parker, London.
• Mill J. S. [2008/1836], On the Definition and Method of Political Economy, in: D. Hausman (ed.), The Philosophy of Economics: 41–58, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Morgan M. [2012], The World in the Model: How Economists Work and Think, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Mróz R., Hardt Ł. [2020], Economic Modelling – Beyond Isolation and Construction: The Case of Austrian Business Cycle Theory as Presented by Roger Garrison, Acta Oeconomica, 70 (2): 251–273.
• Paganelli M. [2017], We Are Not the Center of the Universe: The Role of Astronomy in the Moral Defense of Commerce in Adam Smith, History of Political Economy, 49 (3): 451–468.
• Paganelli M. (ed.) [2020], The Routledge Guidebook to Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, Routledge, London.
• Peaucelle J. [2006], Adam Smith’s Use of Multiple References for His Pin Making Example, The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 13 (4): 489–512.
• Peaucelle J. [2012], Rhetoric and Logic in Smith’s Description of the Division of Labor, The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 19 (3): 385–408.
• Peaucelle J., Guthrie C. [2011], How Adam Smith Found Inspiration in French Texts on Pin Making in the Eighteenth Century, History of Economic Ideas, 19 (3): 41–67.
• Peil J. [1999], Adam Smith and Economic Sciences: A Methodological Reinterpretation, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.
• Phillipson N. [1989], David Hume: The Philosopher as Historian, Yale University Press, New Heaven.
• Popper K. [1972], Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
• Rasmussen D. [2017], The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith and the Friendship that Shaped Modern Thought, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
• Rothschild E. [2001], Economic Sentiments, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Samuelson P. [1977], A Modern Theorist’s Vindication of Adam Smith, The American Economic Review, 67 (1): 42–49.
• Samuelson P. [1980], A Corrected Version of Hume’s Equilibrating Mechanisms for International Trade, in: Chipman S., Kindle¬berger C. (eds.), Flexible Exchange Rates and the Balance of Payments: 141–158, North-Holland, Amsterdam.
• Schabas M. [2008], Hume’s Monetary Thought Experiments, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 39 (2): 161–169.
• Schliesser E. [2017], Adam Smith: Systematic Philosopher and Public Thinker, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Schumpeter J. [2006/1954], History of Economic Analysis, Routledge, London.
• Skinner A. [1974], Adam Smith: Science and the Role of the Imagination, in: Todd W. (ed.), Hume and the Enlightenment: 164–188, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.
• Skinner A. [1996], A System of Social Science: Papers Relating to Adam Smith, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
• Smith A. [1980/1795], Essays on Philosophical Subjects, Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, 3, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Smith A. [1983/1763], Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, in: Bryce J. C. (ed.), Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, 4, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Smith A. [1993/1776], An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Hackett Publishing Company, Indianapolis.
• Smith A. [2004/1759], Theory of Moral Sentiments, Barnes & Noble Books, New York.
• Smith V. [2019], Adam Smith: Scientist and Evolutionist, https://www.adamsmithworks.org/documents/vernon-smith-adam-smith-scientist-and-evolutionist-modelling-other-regarding-behavior (accessed on: 1.06.2022).
• Smith V., Wilson B. [2019], Humanomics: Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations for the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge Uni¬versity Press, Cambridge.
• Sugden R. [2000], Credible Worlds: The Status of Theoretical Models in Economics, Journal of Economic Methodology, 7 (1): 1–31.
• Sugden R. [2013], How Fictional Accounts Can Explain, Journal of Economic Methodology, 20 (3): 237–243.
• Tobin J. [1985], Theoretical Issues in Macroeconomics, in: Feiwel G. (ed,), Issues in Contemporary Macroeconomics and Distribution: 103–133, Palgrave Macmillan, London.
• Weingast B. [2018], Reconstructing Adam Smith’s Politics, unpublished manuscript.
• Weisberg M. [2007], Three Kinds of Idealization, Journal of Philosophy, 104 (12): 639–659.

Identifiers

DOI

10.33119/GN/159030

Biblioteka Nauki

2182088