Title:The Methodology of Positive Economics: Reflections on the Milton Friedman Legacy
Edited by Uskali Mäki
Cambridge University Press 2009

Milton Friedman’s 1953 essay “The methodology of positive economics”remains the most cited, influential, and controversial piece of methodological
writing in twentieth-century economics. Since its appearance,the essay has shaped the image of economics as a scientific discipline,both within and outside academia. At the same time, there has been anongoing controversy over the proper interpretation and normative evaluationof the essay. Perceptions have been sharply divided, with some viewing economics as a scientific success thanks to its adherence to Friedman’s principles, others taking it as a failure for the same reason.
In this book, a team of world-renowned experts in the methodology of economics cast new light on Friedman’s methodological arguments and practices from a variety of perspectives. It provides the twenty-firstcentury reader with an invaluable assessment of the impact and contemporary significance of Friedman’s seminal work.

Contents
Part 1 The classical essay in twentieth-century economic methodology 1
           The methodology of positive economics (1953) (Milton Friedman) 3
Part 2 Reading and writing a classic 45
Part 3 Models, assumptions, predictions, evidence 117
Part 4 Theoretical context: firm, money, expected utility, Walras and Marshall 215
            8 Friedman’s 1953 essay and the marginalist controversy(Roger E. Backhouse) 217
            9 Friedman (1953) and the theory of the firm(Oliver E. Williamson) 241
            .........
Part 5 Concluding perspectives 347
          14 The debate over F53 after fifty years (Mark Blaug) 349
          15 Final word (Milton Friedman) 355