Historical Perspective on the Debate over How to Reform Economics
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This paper proposes a framework for assessing the depth of methodological debate and apply it to the current methodological debate.
Doing so, we find that the current debate has been shallow, especially when compared to historical precedents of deep debate such as the late 19th-century Methodenstreit and the period of Keynesian innovation. Moreover, we conclude that unless the few voices pressing for deep debate are given their due, there is little hope that the recent disciplinary crisis will be met with an appropriate level of reform.