NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES ECONOMIC IMPERIALISM Edward P. Lazear Working Paper 7300 http://www.nber.org/papers/w7300 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 August 1999 This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation through the NBER. I am grateful to Kenneth Arrow, James Baron, Gary Becker, Roger Faith, Claudia Goldin, Morley Gunderson, Larry Katz, Robert Lucas, Michael Schwartz, Andrei Shleifer, and Nancy Stokey for helpful comments and discussions. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Bureau of Economic Research. © 1999 by Edward P. Lazear. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source. Economic Imperialism Edward P. Lazear NBER Working Paper No. 7300 August 1999 ABSTRACT Economics is not only a social science, it is a genuine science. Like the physical sciences, economics uses a methodology that produces refutable implications and tests these implications using solid statistical techniques. In particular, economics stresses three factors that distinguish it from other social sciences. Economists use the construct of rational individuals who engage in maximizing behavior. Economic models adhere strictly to the importance of equilibrium as part of any theory. Finally, a focus on efficiency leads economists to ask questions that other social sciences ignore. These ingredients have allowed economics to invade intellectual territory that was previously deemed to be outside the discipline’s realm. Edward P. Lazear Graduate School of Business Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-5015 and NBER
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