Crime Against Humanity: Pensée Unique in Economics, 7

Well, in this world we deal in facts; the research for the why of facts has the purpose of being cause over them, which includes predicting them; predicting them is intrinsically a quest for the common elements that connect facts, and theories are hypoteses about such common elements; theories are perfectible, subject to trial and error, approximation, and also to being overturned, binned and redone from scratch in light of further facts.
Or at least they should. Unless a greater interest has a script to stage. Again, if any puppet theater has a price, now some puppeteer has the money…
Joseph Stiglitz, in his Nobel Price lecture, said, “One might ask, how can we explain the persistence of the paradigm for so long? Partly, it must be because, in spite of its deficiencies, it did provide insights into many economic phenomena. … But one cannot ignore the possibility that the survival of the paradigm was partly because the belief in that paradigm, and the policy prescriptions, has served certain interests.”

In fact, proof of this is how deeply the deductive approach – and its clever use, too – are instrumental in bringing forward those script and interest, as Werner points out: “It can be seen that the deductive methodology is the fundamental reason why economics could end up so far removed from reality. If a gap between reality and theory is pointed out (by some pesky inductivist), deductivism does not require neoclassical economists to change their theory. Instead, deductivists are entitled to demand that reality be changed to suit their theory (which is correct by axiom). If the long list of assumptions required for neoclassical models to work does not seem to reflect reality, it is logically consistent for deductivists to suggest that structural changes be implemented so that reality moves closer in line with their models. The deductive approach also explains why the increasing dominance of the neoclassical approach resulted in a relegation to secondary status of those branches of economics that do look at reality, such as applied economics, economic history, political economy and regional economic studies. They dealt with uncomfortable facts and thus their influence had to be reduced so as not to threaten the deductive mainstream.”