A Structuralist Theory of Economics
by Adolfo García de la Sienra  (Author)

About the Author
Adolfo García de la Sienra is research fellow at the Instituto de Filosofía, and professor of logic, philosophy, mathematics, and economic theory at the Universidad Veracruzana, Mexico.

About this book
Econo-mists have long grappled with the problem of how economic theories relate to empirical evidence: how can abstract mathematized theories be used to produce empirical claims? How are such theories applied to economic phenomena? What does it mean to “test” economic theories? This book introduces, explains, and develops a structural philosophy of economics which addresses these questions and provides a unifying philosophical/logical basis for a general methodology of economics.
The book begins by introducing a rigorous view of the logical foundations and structure of scientific theories based upon the work of Alfred Tarski, Patrick Suppes, Karl Marx, and others. Using and combining their methods, the book then goes on to reconstruct important economic theories – including utility theory, game theory, Marxian economics, Sraffian economic theory, and econometrics – proving all the main theorems and discussing the key claims and the empirical applicability of each theory. Through these discussions, this book presents, in a systematic fashion, a general philosophy of economics grounded in the structural view.
Offering rigorous formulations of important economic theories, A Structuralist Theory of Economics will be invaluable to all readers interested in the logic, philosophy, and methodology of economics. It will also appeal particularly to those interested in economic theory.

Brief contents
1 Introduction 1
    1.1 A new view of scientific theories 3
    1.2 The S-view in action: an example 7
    1.3 Problems of the S-view 9
2 Models and structures 13
    2.1 The rise of the concept of structure 13
    2.2 Models for first-order logic 14
    2.3 Elementary classes in economics 19
    2.4 Theory of classes 25
    2.5 The general concept of structure 30
3 The structuralist view of theories 35
    3.1 Origins 35
    3.2 The concept and relevance of a metatheory 35
    3.3 The ways of theoretical practice 38
    3.4 A dialogue between the L-view and the S-view 38
    3.5 The structuralist view of theories 48
4 Idealization and concretization 55
    4.1 Motivation 55
    4.2 Empirical structures 57
    4.3 Construction of idealized models 59
    4.4 Concretization 65
5 Measurement 69
    5.1 The nature of measurement 69
    5.2 Representational measurement 72
    5.3 Measurement by means of theory 74
    5.4 Measurement without theory 78
6 A general concept of an economy 82
    6.1 Fixing the reference of economic theories 82
    6.2 A general concept of an economic system 82
7 Preference and utility 90
    7.1 Introduction 90
    7.2 The conditions of Debreu and Mas-Colell 92
    7.3 Motivation 93
    7.4 The algebraic theory of difference 94
    7.5 The geometric theory of difference 97
    7.6 The theory of preference 106
    7.7 The empirical meaning of differentiability 107
    7.8 New foundations of preference theory 111
8 The logical structure of game theory 114
    8.1 Introduction 114
    8.2 Finding the (lost) beings, stories and narratives 115
    8.3 Conceptual prolegomena 116
    8.4 Concepts of strategy 117
    8.5 Probability spaces induced by behavioral strategies 119
    8.6 The equilibrium concept 123
    8.7 The game concept 125
    8.8 Empirical applicability of GT 129
9 Abstract labor and labor-value 132
    9.1 Introduction 132
    9.2 Abstract labor 134
    9.3 Market-determination of abstract labor 140
    9.4 Labor-value 145
    9.5 The meaning and relevance of abstract labor 153
10 Classical economics 155
    10.1 Introduction 155
    10.2 The fundamental Marxian theorem 156
    10.3 General equilibrium 160
    10.4 Equilibrium 163
    10.5 The empirical claim 172
11 The logical structure of Sraffian economic theory 174
    11.1 Introduction 174
    11.2 The conceptual framework 174
    11.3 The basic theory-element 177
    11.4 The standard commodity 179
    11.5 The empirical claim 180
    11.6 What can/ought be done? 181
12 The logical structure of econometrics 182
    12.1 Motivation 182
    12.2 Real concrete DGPS 183
    12.3 Random experiments 184
    12.4 Probability spaces 185
    12.5 Random variables 189
    12.6 Conditional probability as fundamental 191
    12.7 From conditional to absolute probability 194
    12.8 Statistical inference 195
    12.9 The logical structure of econometrics 196
References 199
Author Index 207
Subject Index 211

Series: Routledge INEM Advances in Economic Methodology
Pages: 234 pages
Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (December 19, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1138295647
ISBN-13: 978-1138295643