经济学哲学 philosophy of (Daniel M. Hausman)

首次发表于 2003 年 9 月 12 日星期五;实质性修订于 2018 年 9 月 4 日星期二

“经济学哲学”包括对(a)理性选择、(b)经济结果、制度和过程的评估,以及(c)经济现象的本体论和获取关于它们的知识的可能性的探讨。尽管这些探讨在许多方面重叠,但将经济学哲学以这种方式划分为三个主题是有用的,可以分别视为行动理论、伦理学(或规范社会和政治哲学)和科学哲学的分支。关于理性、福利和社会选择的经济理论通常捍卫由相关哲学文献启发的实质性哲学命题,对于那些对行动理论、哲学心理学以及社会和政治哲学感兴趣的人具有明显的吸引力。经济学对那些对认识论和科学哲学感兴趣的人特别重要,因为它具有详细的特点,并且具有许多自然科学的明显特征,而其对象是社会现象。


经济学哲学: 什么是经济学?

经济学的定义和确切领域都是经济学哲学中存在争议的主题。乍一看,定义经济学的困难似乎并不严重。毕竟,经济学关注的是商品和服务的生产、交换、分配和消费方面。但这一说法及其中包含的术语是模糊的;可以争论经济学与更多事物相关。在转向对学科当代特征的评论之前,从历史角度探讨“什么是经济学”有助于理解。

经济学和经济体的出现

哲学对经济的反思是古老的,但将经济视为独立研究对象的概念仅可追溯到 18 世纪。亚里士多德提出了一些问题,大多数人会认为这些问题与经济有关,主要是关于如何管理家庭的问题。经院哲学家探讨了有关经济行为的伦理问题,并谴责了高利贷——即以金钱取利。随着早期现代时期贸易和国家的重要性日益增加,“重商主义”哲学家和宣传者主要关注贸易平衡和货币管理。人们越来越意识到国家财政管理的复杂性,以及国家征税和行动方式可能影响财富生产的可能性。

在近代早期,那些反思一个国家财富来源的人意识到,年度收成、制造的商品数量以及矿山和渔业产品取决于有关自然、个体劳动和企业、工具以及我们所谓的“资本品”、国家和社会规定的事实。贸易也似乎是有利的,至少如果条件足够好的话。认识到制造业和农业可以改进,并且一些税收和关税可能对生产活动的伤害要小于其他税收和关税,并不需要进行概念上的飞跃。但要制定“经济”这样一个可以被调查的具有规律性的概念,就需要更大胆的进一步步骤。为了有一个研究对象,生产和交换中必须存在规律性;而为了使研究具有意义,这些规律性必须超越生产者、消费者和交换者自身所能明显观察到的范围。只有在十八世纪,最清晰地体现在坎蒂隆、重农学派、大卫·休谟,尤其是亚当·斯密(参见斯密的道德和政治哲学条目)的工作中,人们才发现有待发现的法则,这些法则统治着产生和分配消费品以及生产这些消费品的资源和工具的复杂互动集合。

经济学哲学中社会客体的可能性关键在于追踪个体有意行为的意外后果的概念。例如,休谟追踪价格上涨和经济活动暂时增加的原因是货币增加,这是由最初花费额外货币的个体的感知和行为引起的(1752)。在花费从国外进口的额外黄金时,交易商并不打算提高价格水平。但他们仍然这样做了。亚当·斯密扩展并完善了这一洞察,并提供了一部系统的《国富论》。从他对封建制度的衰落(1776 年,第二卷,第 4 章)的描述到他关于看不见的手的著名讨论,斯密强调了意外后果。“[他]只打算获得自己的利益;在这一点上,他像许多其他情况一样,被一只看不见的手引导,以促进他原本不打算实现的目标。对于社会来说,这并不总是更糟。通过追求自己的利益,他经常比真正打算促进社会的利益更有效地促进社会的利益”(1776 年,第四卷,第 2 章)。个体选择的意外后果形成了科学调查的客体,这些后果是规律性的存在。

经济学的领域可以通过指定一些因果因素或指定一些现象范围来区别于其他社会科学研究领域。经济学家关注的现象包括生产、消费、分配和交换,尤其是通过市场。但由于这些现象涉及许多不同的因果因素,包括热力学定律、冶金学、地理和社会规范,甚至包括调节消化的定律,经济学不能仅通过研究的现象来与其他研究区分开来。需要参考一组中心因果因素。例如,约翰·斯图尔特·密尔认为,“政治经济学……[关注的是]社会状态中发生的现象,这些现象是由追求财富而产生的。它完全摒弃了除了那些可以被视为永久对抗财富欲望的原则之外的任何其他人类激情或动机,即厌恶劳动和渴望即时享受昂贵享受。”(1843 年,第六卷,第 9 章,第 3 节)在密尔看来,经济学主要关注个体追求有形财富的后果,尽管它也考虑了一些次要动机,如厌恶劳动。

米尔认为,个体在追求财富和奢侈品、避免劳动时会理性行事,而不是以分散或不稳定的方式行事,但他没有消费理论,也没有明确的理性经济选择理论,他的资源配置理论相当薄弱。这些空白在所谓的新古典或边际革命期间逐渐填补,该时期将某种消费品的选择(及其价格)与其总效用联系起来,而不是与其边际效用联系起来。例如,水显然非常有用,但在世界上许多地方,水是足够丰富的,所以多喝一杯水或少喝一杯对个体影响不大。因此,水是便宜的。早期的“新古典”经济学家,如威廉·斯坦利·杰文斯认为,个体在消费选择上是为了最大化自己的幸福(1871 年)。这意味着他们分配支出,使得一美元的水或粥或室内装饰对他们的幸福做出相同的贡献。每种商品价值一美元的“边际效用”是相同的。

在二十世纪,经济学家剥去了这一理论的享乐主义外衣(Pareto 1909,Hicks 和 Allen 1934)。与其假设所有消费选择都可以根据它们对代理人幸福的促进程度进行排名,经济学家更专注于排名本身。他们所假设的评估只是代理人能够一贯地对他们面临的选择进行排名。这相当于首先假设排名是完整的——也就是说,对于代理人考虑的任何两个选择 x 和 y,要么代理人将 x 排在 y 之上(更喜欢 x 而不是 y),要么代理人更喜欢 y 而不是 x,要么代理人对 x 和 y 持中立态度。其次,经济学家假设代理人对选择的排名(偏好)是传递的。说代理人的偏好是传递的意味着如果代理人更喜欢 x 而不是 y,更喜欢 y 而不是 z,那么代理人更喜欢 x 而不是 z,对于中立和偏好的组合也有类似的说法。尽管还有进一步的技术条件将这一理论扩展到无限选择集,并捕捉有关赌博的进一步合理性条件,但经济学家通常认同这样一种观点,即理性代理人至少具有完整和传递的偏好,并在可行的选择中选择他们最喜欢的。在揭示偏好的理论中,经济学家曾试图无法成功地消除对主观偏好的所有提及,或者以选择为基础定义偏好(Samuelson 1947,Houtthaker 1950,Little 1957,Sen 1971,1973,Hausman 2012,第 3 章)。

在澄清经济主体特征的理性观点时,经济学家大多数情况下继续通过其关注的动机或偏好的内容来区分经济学与其他社会研究。因此,即使人们可能通过禁欲来追求幸福,或者他们可能理性地选择牺牲所有世俗财物为政治事业,经济学家认为这样的偏好在经济学中是罕见且不重要的。经济学家关注的是由理性与对财富以及更大一揽子商品和服务的渴望所衍生的现象。

经济学家们曾经试图对个体动机进行更少实质性的描述,并对经济学领域进行更广泛的视野。在他具有影响力的专著《经济科学的性质和意义论文》中,Lionel Robbins 将经济学定义为“研究人类行为的科学,作为具有替代用途的目的和稀缺资源之间的关系”(1932 年,第 15 页)。根据罗宾斯的观点,经济学并不关心生产、交换、分配或消费本身。相反,它关注的是所有人类行为的一个方面。罗宾斯的定义有助于理解将经济概念、模型和技术应用于其他主题,如选举行为和立法分析,即使经济学保持与传统领域的联系。

当代经济学及其几个学派

当代经济学是多样的。有许多学派和许多分支。即使所谓的“正统”或“主流”经济学也有许多变体。一些主流经济学是高度理论化的,尽管大部分是应用性的,并依赖于基础理论。理论和应用工作可以区分为微观经济学或宏观经济学。还有第三个分支,计量经济学致力于微观经济学和宏观经济学模型的经验估计、阐述,以及在一定程度上的测试(但请参阅 Summers 1991 和 Hoover 1994)。

微观经济学关注个体之间的关系(其中公司和家庭经常被视为名誉个体,对特定个体的需求特点很少提及)。个体具有完全和传递的偏好,这些偏好指导着他们的选择。消费者更喜欢更多的商品而不是更少的商品,并具有“边际替代率递减”的特点——也就是说,当他们已经拥有大量某种商品时,他们愿意为该商品支付的价格较少,而当他们拥有少量该商品时,他们愿意支付的价格较高。公司试图在面对递减收益的情况下最大化利润:在保持生产中的所有输入不变的情况下,除一种输入外的其余输入增加时,产出会增加,但增长速度递减。经济学家理想化并假设在竞争市场中,公司和个人无法影响价格,但经济学家也对战略互动感兴趣,其中独立个体的理性选择是相互依存的。致力于研究战略互动的博弈论在经济学中日益重要。经济学家将公司的利润最大化活动的结果和消费者为了最优地满足他们的偏好所做的努力建模为一个均衡状态,在这种状态下,任何市场上想要以市场价格购买任何物品的人都能够这样做。没有过剩需求,除非某种商品是免费的,否则就不会有过剩供应。

宏观经济学探讨经济总量之间的关系,比如货币供应与利率或增长率之间的关系,特别关注商业周期和货币政策、财政政策对经济结果的影响。许多主流经济学家希望统一宏观经济学和微观经济学,但很少有经济学家对已经尝试过的方法感到满意,尤其是通过所谓的“代理人”(Kirman 1992, Hoover 2001a)。宏观经济学与经济政策密切相关,因此(并不奇怪地)比微观经济学或计量经济学更受到激烈(和政治上的)争议。宏观经济学流派包括凯恩斯主义者(以及“新凯恩斯主义者”)、货币主义者、“新古典经济学”(理性预期理论 — Begg 1982, Carter and Maddock 1984, Hoover 1988, Minford and Peel 1983),以及“实际商业周期”理论(Kydland and Prescott 1991, 1994; Sent 1998)。

主流经济学的分支还致力于关于增长、金融、就业、农业、住房、自然资源、国际贸易等具体问题。在正统经济学中,也有许多不同的方法,比如代理理论(Jensen and Meckling 1976, Fama 1980)、芝加哥学派(Becker 1976)或公共选择理论(Brennan and Buchanan 1985, Buchanan 1975)。这些方法涉及公司和家庭内部激励以及制度引导选择的方式。

奥地利经济学家接受选择和约束的正统观点,但他们强调不确定性,并质疑是否应将结果视为均衡,并且他们对数学建模的价值持怀疑态度(Buchanan and Vanberg 1989, Dolan 1976, Kirzner 1976, Mises 1949, 1978, 1981, Rothbard 1957, Wiseman 1983, Boettke 2010, Holcombe 2014, Nell 2014a, 2014b, 2017, Boettke and Coyne 2015, Hagedorn 2015, Horwitz 2015, Dekker 2016, Linsbichler 2017)。

传统制度经济学家质疑抽象的一般性理论的价值,并强调演化概念(Dugger 1979,Wilber 和 Harrison 1978,Wisman 和 Rozansky 1991,Hodgson 2000,2013,2016,Hodgson 和 Knudsen 2010,Delorme 2010,Richter 2015)。他们强调关于特定制度内规范和行为的概括的重要性。制度经济学中的应用工作有时与应用的正统经济学非常相似。经济学中的最新工作,也被称为制度主义,试图通过强调交易成本、合同的不可避免的不完整性以及“委托人”在监督和指导代理人时面临的问题来解释制度的特征(Coase 1937;Williamson 1985;Mäki 等人 1993,North 1990;Brousseau 和 Glachant 2008)。

马克思主义和社会主义经济学家传统上阐述和发展了卡尔·马克思的经济理论,但最近许多社会主义经济学家借鉴正统经济理论的工具修订了传统的马克思主义概念和主题(Morishima 1973,Roemer 1981,1982,Bowles 2012,Piketty 2014,Lebowitz 2015,Auerbach 2016,Beckert 2016,Jacobs 和 Mazzucato 2016)。

还有社会经济学家,他们关注规范规范选择(Etzioni 1988, 2018),行为经济学家,研究选择行为的细枝末节(Winter 1962, Thaler 1994, Ben Ner and Putterman 1998, Kahneman and Tversky 2000, Camerer 2003, Camerer and Loewenstein 2003, Camerer et al. 2003, Loewenstein 2008, Thaler and Sunstein 2008, Saint-Paul 2011, Oliver 2013),后凯恩斯主义者,关注凯恩斯的工作,特别是他对需求的强调(Dow 1985, Kregel 1976, Harcourt and Kriesler 2013 Rochon and Rossi 2017),进化经济学家,强调制度的重要性(Witt 2008, Hodgson and Knudsen 2010, Vromen 2009, Hodgson 2013, 2016, Carsten 2013, Dopfer and Potts 2014, Wilson and Kirman 2016),新里卡多派,强调经济阶级之间的关系(Sraffa 1960, Pasinetti 1981, Roncaglia 1978),甚至神经经济学家,研究选择行为的神经相关(Camerer 2007, Camerer et al. 2005, Camerer et al. 2008, Glimcher et al. 2008, Loewenstein et al. 2008, Rusticinni 2005, 2008, Glimcher 2010)。经济学并非一种统一的企业。

2. 六个中心方法论问题

尽管经济学的不同分支和学派提出了许多关于经济学的认识论和本体论问题,但有六个问题一直是关于经济学方法论反思的核心(在哲学意义上)

经济学的哲学

决策者寻求经济学指导政策,似乎不可避免地,即使是理论经济学中最深奥的问题也可能影响某些人的物质利益。经济学对事实的影响程度以及可能受规范关注的影响引发了关于关于“事实”的积极科学与关于价值和应该是什么的规范性探讨之间关系的方法论问题。大多数经济学家和方法论学家认为,事实和价值之间有一个相当明确的区别,即存在和应该存在之间的区别,他们认为大多数经济学应被视为一门帮助决策者选择手段以实现他们目标的积极科学,尽管它不涉及目标选择本身。

这种观点有几个值得质疑的地方(Mongin 2006, Hausman, McPherson, and Satz 2017)。首先,经济学家必须解释和阐明政策制定者提供的目标和约束的不完整规范(Machlup 1969b)。其次,经济“科学”是一种人类活动,就像所有人类活动一样,它受价值观的支配。这些价值观不一定与影响经济政策的价值观相同,但可以质疑的是,经济学家活动所受的价值观是否可以明显区分于影响政策制定者的价值观。第三,经济学的很大一部分是建立在理性规范理论之上的。人们可以质疑这些理论中隐含的价值观是否可以明显区别于支配政策的价值观。例如,很难坚持个体理性的最大化观点,同时又坚持社会政策应该抵制以自由、权利或平等名义最大化增长、财富或福利。第四,人们对什么是对与错的看法,事实上受到他们对人们实际行为的信念的影响。有证据表明,研究描绘个体为自私的理论会使人们更看好自私行为并变得更自私(Marwell and Ames 1981, Frank et al. 1993)。最后,人们的判断受到他们的利益的蒙蔽。由于经济理论对人们的利益至关重要,学科中必然存在意识形态偏见(Marx 1867, Preface)。在经济学中,积极和规范尤其紧密相连,因为经济学家不仅仅是研究人员和教师。此外,经济学家还充当评论员和所谓的“雇佣枪手”,他们的薪水取决于达到雇主想要的结论。关于 2008 年开始的大衰退的宏观经济政策应对的激烈争论证明了意识形态的影响。

原因与因果关系

正统的理论微观经济学既是一个关于理性选择的理论,也是一个解释和预测经济结果的理论。由于几乎所有讨论个体选择的经济理论都将个体视为出于某种理由行动,因此关于理性观念和理由在经济中应该扮演什么角色的问题具有普遍重要性。经济学家通常关注个体选择的总体结果,而不是特定个体的行动,但他们的理论实际上既提供了为什么个体做出选择的因果解释,也提供了他们选择的理由的解释。另请参见关于方法论个体主义和行动的理由的条目:理由的证明、动机、解释。

根据这些理由,许多哲学家质疑人类行为的解释是否可以是因果解释(von Wright 1971,Winch 1958)。然而,仅仅给出一个理由 — 即使是一个非常好的理由 — 如果这个理由实际上并不“有效”,就无法解释一个行动者的行为。例如,有人可能开始定期参加教堂活动,并将他的理由给出为对救赎的关注。但其他人可能怀疑这个行动者是在欺骗自己,而牧师迷人的女儿实际上是他对宗教产生兴趣的原因。唐纳德·戴维森(1963)认为,区分解释一个行动的理由和未能解释它的理由的特点在于前者也是行动的原因。尽管经济学中对理性的描述在某些方面与人们在日常行为解释中隐含地引用的民间心理学有所不同,但许多相同的问题仍然存在(Rosenberg 1976,第 5 章;1980,Hausman 2012)。

一些经济学家强调的关于原因和因果解释之间的另一个区别是,解释行为的信念和偏好可能取决于错误和无知(Knight 1935)。作为第一次近似,经济学家可以忽略由信念和欲望的故意性引起的困难。因此,他们经常假设人们对所有相关事实都有完美的信息。这样,理论家就不必担心人们的信念是什么。(如果人们有完美的信息,那么他们就相信和期望事实是什么。)但是一旦超越这第一次近似,就会出现在自然科学中没有的困难。选择取决于事物“内部”的看法,这可能与实际情况非常不同。例如,考虑股票市场。一支股票的“真实”价值取决于公司未来的利润,这当然是不确定的。2006 年,美国的房价被极度夸大。但它们是否“过高”至少在短期内取决于人们的信念。如果能够将它们卖给愿意为其支付更高价格的其他人,那么它们就是出色的投资。经济学家对这种主观性有多重要存在分歧。奥地利学派的成员认为这些差异非常重要,并且明显区分了对经济学的理论化和对任何自然科学的理论化(Buchanan and Vanberg 1989, von Mises 1981)。

社会科学自然主义

经济学是所有社会科学中与自然科学最相似的学科。经济理论已被公理化,经济学的文章和书籍充满了定理。在所有社会科学中,只有经济学拥有一种类似诺贝尔奖的奖项。因此,经济学成为了一个测试案例,用于考察关于自然科学和社会科学之间相似性程度的人们。那些曾经想知道社会科学是否必须从根本上不同于自然科学的人们,似乎主要关注三个问题:

(i) 自然科学和社会科学中的理论和解释的结构或概念之间是否存在根本差异?这些问题中的一些已经在上面讨论原因与因果之间的问题时提到过。

(ii) 目标上是否存在根本差异?哲学家和经济学家争论说,社会科学除了或者说与自然科学的预测和解释目标不同,应该致力于为我们提供理解。韦伯和其他人认为,社会科学应该为我们提供一种“内在”的理解,我们应该能够同情代理人的反应,并找到“可理解”的发生(韦伯 1904 年,奈特 1935 年,马赫卢普 1969a)。这似乎引入了一种主观性因素到社会科学中,这在自然科学中是找不到的。(经济学哲学)

由于人类选择的重要性(或许是自由意志),社会现象是否过于不规则,无法被纳入法律和理论框架之中?考虑到人类的自由意志,也许人类行为本质上是不可预测的,不受任何法律约束。但事实上,人类行为中存在许多规律性,鉴于一些自然系统具有巨大的因果复杂性,自然科学也必须应对许多不规则性。

经济学中的抽象、理想化和准此条件条款

经济学引发了关于严重抽象和理想化合法性的问题。例如,主流经济模型经常规定每个人都是完全理性的,拥有完美信息,或者商品是无限可分的。这些说法是夸大的,显然是错误的。其他经济学派可能不会采用如此极端的理想化,但如果不愿意大幅简化并从许多复杂性中抽象出来,就无法进行经济学研究。多少简化、理想化、抽象或“孤立”(Mäki 2006)是合法的?

此外,由于经济学家试图研究经济现象作为一个独立领域,仅受少数因果因素的影响,经济学的主张只有在 ceteris paribus 条件下才是真实的——也就是说,只有在没有干扰或扰动因素的情况下才是真实的。什么是 ceteris paribus 条款,以及在科学中它们何时合法?关于 ceteris paribus 条款的问题与简化和理想化的问题密切相关,因为简化的一种方式是假设各种干扰因素或干扰是不活跃的,并探讨一些少数因果因素的后果。这些问题以及经济学受证据支持程度的相关问题一直是经济方法论中的核心问题。它们将在下文主要在第 3 节进一步讨论。

经济学和计量经济学中的因果关系

经济学中的许多重要概括是因果性主张。例如,需求定律断言价格上涨将(其他条件不变)减少需求量。(它不仅仅断言价格和需求之间的反向关系。当需求因其他原因增加,比如口味变化时,价格上涨。)计量经济学家也深切关注从统计证据中确定因果关系的可能性,以及因果关系对参数值一致估计可能性的相关性。由于对替代政策后果的关注对经济学至关重要,因果性调查是不可避免的。在经济学中,许多重要的概括都是因果性主张。例如,需求定律断言价格上涨将(其他条件不变)减少需求量。(它不仅仅断言价格和需求之间的反向关系。当需求因其他原因增加,比如口味变化时,价格上涨。)计量经济学家也深切关注从统计证据中确定因果关系的可能性,以及因果关系对参数值一致估计可能性的相关性。由于对替代政策后果的关注对经济学至关重要,因果性调查是不可避免的。

在 1930 年代之前,经济学家通常愿意明确和字面上使用因果语言,尽管一些人担心经济变化的因果分析与“比较静态”对均衡状态的处理之间可能存在冲突。一些经济学家还担心,以因果为思考方式与承认经济均衡中的多样性和相互决定性不兼容。在 20 世纪 30 年代和 40 年代的反形而上学知识环境中(其中逻辑实证主义至少是症状之一),任何提到因果关系的言论都变得可疑,经济学家通常假装避免因果概念。结果是,他们停止仔细思考他们继续隐含地调用的因果概念(Hausman 1983, 1990, Helm 1984, Runde 1998)。例如,经济学家试图将需求定律阐述为价格变化对需求量的因果后果,而不是仅限于讨论与价格和需求量相关的数学函数。当然也有重要的例外(Haavelmo 1944, Simon 1953, Wold 1954),在过去的一代中,这种情况发生了巨大变化。

在他的《宏观经济学中的因果关系》(2001b)一书中,凯文·胡佛(Kevin Hoover)提出了研究大规模因果问题的可行方法,例如货币供应量(M)的变化是否导致通货膨胀率 P 的变化,或者适应 P 的变化,而这些变化本身是由其他原因引起的。如果 M 的变化导致 P 的变化,那么在 M 的外生变化下,P 对 M 的条件分布应保持稳定,但在 P 的外生变化下应发生变化。胡佛认为,历史研究,结合统计调查,可以证明 M 或 P 的某些特定变化是外生的。然后可以通过检查条件分布的稳定性来确定因果方向。计量经济学家对当代哲学界对因果关系概念的复苏做出了重要贡献。除了胡佛的工作外,还可以参考 Geweke(1982)、Granger(1969,1980)、Cartwright(1989)、Sims(1977)、Zellner 和 Aigner(1988)、Pearl(2000)、Spirtes、Glymour 和 Scheines(2001)。

一种相对安全的确定因果关系的方法是通过随机对照实验。如果实验者将受试者随机分配到实验组和对照组,并仅改变一个因素,那么,除非两组因某种未知方式而不同,否则在对照组和治疗组的共同特征给定的情况下,结果的变化应归因于这一个因素的差异。事实上,在定量变量的情况下,可以计算平均因果效应(Deaton 2010)。这使得随机对照试验非常有吸引力,尽管并非万能药,因为治疗组和对照组可能不代表政策制定者希望应用因果结论的人群,干预的因果后果可能在对照组和治疗组内的不同子群之间有所不同(Worrall 2007,Cartwright 和 Hardie 2013)。

出于实际和伦理原因,经济学中进行实验通常很困难(尽管如第 4.5 节所讨论的那样,并非不可能)。但是,凭借一些创造力以及比以往更大的实验热情,经济学家们在实验室和实地中进行实验的频率大大增加。此外,作为实验的替代方案,或者作为扩大实验范围的一种方式,近年来经济学家对所谓的“工具变量”技术非常热衷。例如,仅仅检查经济增长与发展援助之间的相关性,即使控制了其他已知影响经济增长的因素,也不太可能揭示援助对增长的因果影响,因为援助可能相互依赖于增长以及许多难以测量的影响增长的因素。如果经济学家能够找到一个援助依赖的“工具”变量 x,该变量仅通过其对援助的影响影响增长(如果有的话),并且在概率上独立于增长的所有其他决定因素,那么这些问题在一定程度上可以避免。在这种情况下,可以利用 x 对增长的影响来估计援助对增长的影响。工具变量技术、政策实验和依赖“自然实验”已经变得普遍,尽管它们带来了将实验结果推广到目标人群的新问题(Deaton 2010;Cartwright 和 Hardie 2013)。

经济学的结构与策略:范式与研究方案

在 Kuhn(1970)和 Lakatos(1970)的工作之后,哲学家们对统一和指导特定研究传统内研究的更大理论结构变得更加了解和感兴趣。由于经济学中许多理论项目或方法是系统统一的,它们引发了关于研究指导的问题,许多经济学家试图应用 Kuhn 或 Lakatos 的工作来阐明经济学的整体结构(Baumberg 1977,Blaug 1976,de Marchi 和 Blaug 1991,Bronfenbrenner 1971,Coats 1969,Dillard 1978,Hands 1985b,Hausman 1992,第 6 章,Hutchison 1978,Latsis 1976,Jalladeau 1978,Kunin 和 Weaver 1971,Stanfield 1974,Weintraub 1985,Worland 1972)。这些应用是否成功存在争议,但将经济学的结构与 Kuhn 和 Lakatos 的模式进行比较有助于突出经济学的独特特征,并可能促成经济学所经历的一些变化。例如,询问主流经济学的“积极启发”是什么,可以让人看到主流理论模型通常试图证明经济均衡将会实现,因此主流模型在统一性方面不仅仅是在它们的共同假设上。由于经济学研究项目的成功存在争议,了解它们的全局结构和策略有助于澄清它们的缺点以及优点。

经济学哲学

正如前一节所提到的,关于经济学最重要的方法论问题涉及经济理论的极大简化、理想化和抽象化,以及这些特征引发的对经济学是否得到良好支持的疑问。像“代理人更喜欢较大的商品捆绑而不是较小的商品捆绑”这样的说法引发了严重的问题,因为如果将其解释为普遍概括,那么它们是错误的;而科学哲学传统上认为科学致力于发现真正的定律——即真实的普遍概括。即使并非每个人总是更喜欢较大的商品捆绑而不是较小的,这种概括似乎是有信息量且有用的。一个科学能够建立在错误的概括之上吗?如果这些说法不是普遍概括,那么它们的逻辑形式是什么?那些看似错误或近似的说法如何进行测试、确认或否定?这些问题从最初的方法论思考一直困扰着经济学家和经济方法学家直至今日。

经济学哲学 3.1 古典经济学与先验方法

第一次对经济方法论进行深入反思出现在纳索·塞尼尔(1836)和约翰·斯图尔特·米尔(1836)的著作中。他们的论文必须在当时的经济理论和科学哲学背景下加以理解。与史密斯的经济学(它受到了很大影响)和现代经济学一样,19 世纪中叶的“古典”经济学将经济规律追溯到面临社会和自然限制的个体选择。但是,与史密斯相比,更多地依赖于严重简化的模型。大卫·里卡多的《政治经济学原理》(1817)描绘了这样一个画面:工资高于生存水平会导致人口增加,进而需要更加密集的农业或耕种劣质土地。耕种的扩展导致利润降低和租金增加;整个经济发展的故事导致了一个阴郁的稳定状态,在这种状态下,利润太低以至于无法进行任何净投资,工资回落到生存水平,只有地主富裕。第一次对经济方法论进行深入反思出现在纳索·塞尼尔(1836)和约翰·斯图尔特·米尔(1836)的著作中。他们的论文必须在当时的经济理论和科学哲学背景下加以理解。与史密斯的经济学(它受到了很大影响)和现代经济学一样,19 世纪中叶的“古典”经济学将经济规律追溯到面临社会和自然限制的个体选择。但是,与史密斯相比,更多地依赖于严重简化的模型。大卫·里卡多的《政治经济学原理》(1817)描绘了这样一个画面:工资高于生存水平会导致人口增加,进而需要更加密集的农业或耕种劣质土地。耕种的扩展导致利润降低和租金增加;整个经济发展的故事导致了一个阴郁的稳定状态,在这种状态下,利润太低以至于无法进行任何净投资,工资回落到生存水平,只有地主富裕。

很幸运的是,对于世界来说,但对于 19 世纪中期的经济理论家来说,数据始终与理论预测的趋势相矛盾(de Marchi 1970)。然而,这一理论继续统治了半个多世纪,一直将持续不利的数据解释为各种“干扰因素”所致。因此,毫不奇怪,Senior 和 Mill 对经济学方法的描述强调了理论的相对自主性。

米尔区分了两种主要的归纳方法。a posteriori 方法是一种直接经验的方法。在他看来,它只适用于少数因果因素作用或实验控制可能的现象。米尔著名的归纳方法提供了对 a posteriori 方法的阐述。例如,在他的差异方法中,一个人固定除一个因素外的每个因果因素,并检查看当移除该因素时效果是否停止获得。目标是识别无例外的因果定律。

米尔认为,直接归纳方法无法用于研究涉及许多因果因素的现象。例如,如果有人试图通过比较高关税国家和没有高关税国家的繁荣来调查关税是否促进或阻碍繁荣,结果将毫无意义,因为繁荣取决于许多其他因果因素。因此,米尔认为,人们需要采用先验方法。尽管其名称如此,但这也是一种归纳方法。然而,与后验方法不同,先验方法是一种间接的归纳方法。科学家首先确定适用于米尔归纳方法的领域中个别因果因素的规律。然后,他们推导地研究这些个别原因的综合后果。最后,对综合后果进行“验证”是有必要的,但由于因果复杂性,这种测试的重要性相对较小。结论的测试仅作为对科学家推断的检查,以及是否存在科学家尚未考虑的重要干扰因素的指示器。

米尔举了潮汐科学的例子。物理学家通过研究行星运动确定了引力定律,其中引力是唯一重要的因果因素。然后,物理学家从该定律以及有关月球和太阳的位置和运动的信息中演绎出潮汐理论。该理论的含义可能是不精确的,有时甚至是严重错误的,因为许多附属因素影响潮汐。测试潮汐理论可以揭示物理学家所做推论中的错误,并可能揭示有关附属因素作用的证据。但由于因果复杂性,这种测试对于证实或否定已经确立的引力定律几乎没有作用。尽管米尔并不经常使用“准确地说”这样的术语,但他认为经济学的原则或“法则”在“干扰”或“干扰性因素”不存在时成立,这解释了经济学原则如何在准确地说的情况下成立(Hausman 1992, ch. 8, 12)。

由于经济理论仅包括最重要的原因并必然忽略次要原因,其主张,如潮汐相关的主张一样,是不精确的。其预测将是不精确的,有时会相去甚远。密尔认为,通过研究在更简单的领域中统治主要因果因素的法则,然后推导出在更复杂情况下的结果,仍然有可能发展和确认经济理论。例如,统计数据在最低工资和非熟练工人失业之间的关系方面存在歧义;由于最低工资从未非常高,因此在那些情况下没有有关失业率的数据。另一方面,日常经验告诉经济学家,企业可以在更多或更少劳动密集型的流程之间进行选择,并且高最低工资将使更多劳动密集型的流程变得更昂贵。在企业试图控制成本的假设下,经济学家有充分的(尽管不是决定性的)理由相信高最低工资将增加失业率。

米尔认为,通过捍卫经济学的这种不精确性并采用先验方法,他能够调和他的经验主义和对里卡多经济学的承诺。尽管米尔对经济方法论的观点在 19 世纪后期受到经济学家的挑战,他们认为理论与政策和历史的偶然性相距太远(罗施尔 1874 年,施莫勒 1888 年,1898 年),但米尔的方法论观点主导了经济理论的主流一个世纪(例如,凯恩斯 1875 年)。米尔的愿景在 19 世纪 70 年代开始的所谓新古典经济学革命中幸存下来,并在涉及新古典经济学的最重要方法论著作中清晰可辨,例如约翰·内维尔·凯恩斯的《政治经济学的范围和方法》(1891 年)或莱昂内尔·罗宾斯的《经济科学的性质和意义论文》(1932 年)。豪斯曼(1992)认为,当前的方法论实践与米尔的方法论非常相似,尽管很少有经济学家明确捍卫它。

尽管这种解释密尔和经济学方法论的方式是连贯的,并符合一种古老的经验主义科学哲学,认为一般性规律的法律力量在于它们的普遍性,但这并不忠实于经济学家看待他们理论的方式。经济学家更有可能将诸如贪婪之类的一般性规律视为“倾向”,即使在被干扰击败时仍然继续运作,并且需要单独研究(Woodward 2003)。即使密尔也谈到了倾向,尽管没有调和他对倾向的谈论与他的经验主义。如果将对倾向和反事实的形而上学疑虑放在一边,经济理论的最自然方式是作为对倾向组合的反事实调查。正如下文对模型的讨论所证实的那样,这种观点对经济学家而言是令人愉快的,对有经验主义顾虑的哲学家而言则令人困惑。

经济学探究的概念化为模型和趋势的研究,似乎更多地转变了由不精确性提出的问题的术语,而不是提供解决方案。朱利安·赖斯(Julian Reiss)在一篇有影响力的论文《解释悖论》(2013)中实际上重新发现了这个问题,他认为以下三个命题是不一致的:(1)经济模型是错误的。 (2)经济模型是解释性的。 (3)解释需要真相。这个表述有点模糊,因为模型不是可以真实或虚假的单个句子或命题,但应该清楚的是,赖斯所谓的悖论是对经济理论或模型不精确性提出的问题的重新表述。

弗里德曼和“不切实际假设”的辩护

尽管一些当代哲学家认为密尔的先验方法在很大程度上是可辩护的(Bhaskar 1975,Cartwright 1989 和 Hausman 1992),但到了二十世纪中叶,许多经济学家认为密尔的观点与他们对当代科学哲学的理解脱节。在没有仔细研究密尔的文本的情况下,经济学家很容易误解他的术语,并认为他的先验方法与经验主义相对立。其他人认真对待密尔的观点,即经济学的基本原理应该经过实证确立,并找到了一些证据来质疑一些基本原则,特别是企业试图最大化利润的观点(Hall 和 Hitch 1938,Lester 1946,1947)。像 Terence Hutchison(1938)这样对当代科学哲学发展了解甚深的方法论者谴责经济学中的“纯理论”为非科学的。尽管一些当代哲学家认为密尔的先验方法在很大程度上是可辩护的(Bhaskar 1975,Cartwright 1989 和 Hausman 1992),但到了二十世纪中叶,许多经济学家认为密尔的观点与他们对当代科学哲学的理解脱节。在没有仔细研究密尔的文本的情况下,经济学家很容易误解他的术语,并认为他的先验方法与经验主义相对立。其他人认真对待密尔的观点,即经济学的基本原理应该经过实证确立,并找到了一些证据来质疑一些基本原则,特别是企业试图最大化利润的观点(Hall 和 Hitch 1938,Lester 1946,1947)。像 Terence Hutchison(1938)这样对当代科学哲学发展了解甚深的方法论者谴责经济学中的“纯理论”为非科学的。

经济学哲学家在哲学上提出了几种方法,以取代老式的米尔式观点,采用更现代的方法论,继续证明当前实践的大部分合理性(特别参见 Machlup 1955, 1960 和 Koopmans 1957)。在这些努力中,迄今为止最有影响力的是弗里德曼(Friedman)于 1953 年发表的论文《正面经济学方法论》。这篇论文产生了巨大的影响,远远超过其他任何关于方法论的作品。

弗里德曼在他的论文中通过以传统方式区分积极经济学和规范经济学,并推测政策争议通常实际上是关于替代方案后果的争议,因此可以通过积极经济学的进展来解决。转向积极经济学,弗里德曼断言(未经论证)正确预测尚未观察到的现象是所有积极科学的最终目标。他对科学持实用观点,并认为科学的价值在于将指导政策的预测。

由于进行实验往往困难甚至不可能,并且经济学家观察到的无法控制的现象很难解释(由于米尔所困扰的相同因果复杂性),因此很难判断特定理论是否是预测的良好基础。倾向性并非普遍规律。像“企业试图最大化利润”这样的说法在某种意义上是“不现实的”,因为它不是真正的普遍概括。虽然弗里德曼没有用这些术语,但他反对那些实际上抱怨它们仅仅是倾向性而不是普遍规律的批评。如果他的批评止步于此,那是明智的,尽管这样做会避开理解和评估关于倾向性的说法的问题。

但弗里德曼得出了一个更加激进的结论。在他的术语中,批评“公司试图最大化利润”等说法的经济学家所犯的错误在于试图通过“假设”的“现实主义”而不是通过其预测的准确性来测试理论。他认为,理论假设的现实主义与其预测价值无关。公司最大化利润的假设是否现实并不重要。理论应该仅仅根据其预测的准确性来评估。重要的是理论是否能够做出正确和重要的预测。

正如评论家所指出的(几乎所有评论家都持批评态度),弗里德曼将理论的几个不同方面称为“假设”,并通过谈论“不切实际”的假设来表达几种不同的含义(Brunner 1969)。由于弗里德曼将他的批评针对那些实际调查企业是否确实试图最大化利润的人,他必须将“假设”包括在内,例如“企业试图最大化利润”等中心经济概括,并且通过“不切实际”,他必须指的是,除其他事项外,“错误”。弗里德曼认为,评估理论的现实性假设是一个错误,至少他认为,通过调查其中心概括是否真实或错误来评估理论是错误的。

看起来,这种解释似乎会使弗里德曼的观点不一致,因为在测试企业是否试图最大化利润时,我们正在检查有关企业行为的理论预测是真实还是虚假。诸如“企业最大化利润”这样的“假设”本身就是一个预测。但还有一个更复杂的问题。弗里德曼并不关心经济理论的每一个预测。在弗里德曼看来,“理论应该仅仅根据其对其意图解释的现象类别的预测能力来评判”(1953 年,第 8 页[已添加斜体])。经济学家只对经济理论的某些含义感兴趣。其他预测,比如关于经理调查结果的预测,对政策无关紧要。重要的是经济理论是否成功地预测了经济学家感兴趣的现象。换句话说,弗里德曼认为经济理论应该根据其对市场上价格和交易数量的预测来评估。在他看来,重要的是“狭窄的预测成功”(豪斯曼,2008a),而不是整体的预测充分性。

弗里德曼允许经济学家忽略调查的令人不安的发现,或者人们并不总是更喜欢更大的商品捆绑而不是更小的商品捆绑的事实。经济学家也不需要担心是否有倾向于更喜欢更多商品而不是更少商品的趋势。他们不需要担心一些模型过分假设所有代理人都知道所有市场中所有现有和未来商品的价格。重要的是市场现象的预测是否准确。由于异常的市场结果可能是由任意数量的未受控制的因果因素引起的,而实验很难进行,因此经济学家不需要担心会遇到会强烈否定基本理论的证据。详细模型可能会被证实或被证伪,但基本理论是安全的。通过这种方式,人们可以理解弗里德曼的方法论是如何被用来维护一种严格的理论正统,尽管它似乎证明了经济学家应该使用任何看起来“有效”的模型,而不管其假设看起来多么荒谬或不合理。有关弗里德曼论文的其他讨论,请参见 Bear 和 Orr 1969,Boland 1979,Hammond 1992,Hirsch 和 de Marchi 1990,Mäki 1990a,Melitz 1963,Rotwein 1959 和 Samuelson 1963。

在过去的二十年里,经济学领域的实验激增,弗里德曼的方法论观点可能不再像过去那样占据绝对优势。但它们仍然具有巨大影响力,并且仍然被视为一种避免在经济学中简化、理想化和抽象化方面提出尴尬问题的方式,而不是回应这些问题。

模型

经济学家一个世纪前谈论他们的工作时使用“原则”、“法则”和“理论”的术语。这种语言并没有完全消失:经济学家仍然谈论“博弈论”、“消费者选择理论”或“需求定律”。但如今,在经济学中的标准智力工具或形式是“模型”。计量经济学家谈论模型和结构。经济学家更乐于将有关理性选择的公理描述为理性选择模型,而不是理性选择理论。许多对模型有着卓越评论的人认为它们是虚构的世界,研究这些世界有助于我们理解实际现象(Frigg, 2010)。“创造模型就是‘创造世界’。”(Morgan 2012, pp. 95, 405)。在他们看来,经济学家能够通过构建模型——即不存在干扰的虚构经济体系——来研究因果因素在没有干扰的情况下如何运作。Uskali Mäki 认为“模型就是实验。实验就是模型。”(2005)。Dani Rodrik(2015)认为经济学由一系列模型组成,而从这些模型中选择或定制模型就是做经济学。对模型的讨论是否只是术语潮流的变化,还是与模型有关的关注(这种关注绝非经济学独有)标志着方法论的转变?模型是什么?这些问题已经被 Cartwright 1989, 1999, Godfrey Smith 2006, Grüne-Yanoff 2009, Hausman 1992, 2015a, Kuorikoski 和 Lehtinen 2009, Mäki, ed. 1991, Mäki 2005, 2009a, 2009b, Morgan 2001, 2004, 2012, Morgan 和 Morrison 1999, Rappaport 1998, Sugden 2000, 2009, Weisberg 2007,以及 Lehtinen, Kuorikoski 和 Ylikoski 2012 讨论过。

经济学家最感兴趣的模型观在哲学上存在问题,因为它显然致力于研究经济学家可以调查的虚构实体的属性和因果倾向。在实验中,无论是在实验室还是在野外进行,实验者与真实的实验对象进行因果交互,结果可能与经济学家的预测相矛盾。相比之下,在研究模型时,经济学家与虚构实体“互动”,这些实体可以说不过是他或她自己的思想,定义模型的公理的逻辑推论从未令人失望。这并不是说逻辑研究模型永远不会带来惊喜。人类并非逻辑全知,发现一组公理的含义可能是一项艰巨的任务。但这与在实验室或野外进行实验是不同的任务,经济学家据称“创造”并研究的“世界”的本体论是深具困惑的。尽管对经济实践的忠实度较低,但在哲学上更易理解的方式是将模型视为谓词或谓词的定义(Hausman 1992)。例如,当经济学家写下一个具有单一产出和两个输入的公司模型时,他们正在定义一个概念,可以用来描述实际公司。

经济方法论的影响力方法

过去半个世纪见证了一大批致力于经济方法论的文献的出现。这些文献探讨了许多方法论途径,并将其结论应用于许多经济学派别和分支。大部分文献集中在主流经济学的基本理论上 —— 即受限理性个体选择所导致的均衡理论 —— 但宏观经济学在确定应对 2008 年开始的大衰退的正确反应方面的巨大重要性,以及实证和实验调查在经济学家日常工作中的迅速增加的作用,也在方法论调查中产生了共鸣(Backhouse 2010)。自 1985 年以来,已经有一本专门致力于经济学哲学的期刊《经济学与哲学》,自 1994 年以来也有一本《经济方法论杂志》。本节将对过去二十年的一些方法论途径进行抽样。

4.1 波普尔主义方法

卡尔·波普尔的科学哲学在经济学家中产生了影响,也在其他科学家中产生了影响。波普尔捍卫他所称的证伪方法论(1968, 1969)。科学家应该制定“逻辑上可证伪”的理论——即与某些可能的观察报告不一致。 “所有乌鸦都是黑色的”是逻辑上可证伪的;它与(并将被)红色乌鸦的观察报告不一致。 (显然,概率性主张在这种意义上显然不可证伪。)波普尔坚持认为,不可证伪的主张排除了任何观察结果,因此是无信息量的。它们不提供关于预期的任何指导,并且从测试它们中无法学到任何东西。其次,波普尔认为,科学家应该对理论进行严格测试,并在测试失败时愿意拒绝它们。第三,科学家应该将理论视为最多是有趣的猜测。通过测试并不确认一个理论或使科学家有理由相信它。它只在一方面证明继续使用假设(因为它尚未被证伪),另一方面,致力于试图证伪它(因为它迄今为止经受住了测试)。波普尔捍卫了他所称的“情境逻辑”(基本上是理性选择理论)作为社会科学的正确方法(1967, 1976)。波普尔的证伪主义与他对情境逻辑的捍卫之间似乎存在严重的紧张关系,他对情境逻辑的讨论并没有像他的证伪主义那样具有影响力。有关情境逻辑如何应用于经济学的讨论,请参见 Hands(1985a)。

根据波普尔的证伪主义,似乎很难理解极端简化如何可以合法,以及当前经济实践如何可以在科学上获得信誉。经济理论和模型几乎都是不可证伪的,即使它们是,弗里德曼方法论观点的广泛接受也将确保它们不会受到严格的检验。当模型明显未能通过测试时,它们很少被否定。经济学家们仅仅得出结论,即他们选择了错误的模型来完成任务,或者存在令人不安的原因。经济模型,尚未经过充分测试的,通常被视为对政策的良好指导,而不仅仅是猜测。新古典经济学的批评者提出了这些批评(Eichner 1983),但大多数奉行波普尔科学哲学的人并没有否定主流经济学,也没有严厉批评其从业者。

马克·布劳格(1992)和特伦斯·哈钦森(1938,1977,1978,2000),作为最杰出的波普尔方法论者,批评了经济学的特定特征,并都呼吁进行更多测试和更加批判的态度。例如,布劳格赞扬加里·贝克(1976)拒绝用偏好的差异来解释选择的差异,但批评他未能进一步严格测试他的理论(1980a,第 14 章)。然而,布劳格和哈钦森都低估了波普尔观点的激进性,并认为他的信息仅仅是科学家应该具有批判精神并关心测试他们的理论。

布劳格(Blaug)和哈钦森(Hutchison)的批评有时被挑战,理由是经济理论无法进行测试,因为其中包含了诸多的准确性假设和推导可测试结论所需的许多附属假设(Caldwell 1984)。但这种回应忽略了波普(Popper)坚持认为测试需要方法论决策,不能将预测失败归因于附属假设的错误或“干扰”。关于波普的哲学观点及其在经济学中的适用性,请参阅德马奇(de Marchi)(1988)、考德威尔(Caldwell)(1991)、博兰德(Boland)(1982、1989、1992、1997)、博伊兰和奥戈曼(Boylan and O’Gorman)(2007)、巴克豪斯(Backhouse)(2009)和托马斯(Thomas)(2017)。

应用波普尔对证伪的观点字面上将是破坏性的。不仅新古典经济学,而且所有重要的经济理论都将被谴责为非科学的,也没有办法区分经济理论。对波普尔观点的天真阅读的一个主要问题是,人们无法仅凭理论本身推导出可检验的推论。为了推导出可检验的推论,还需要关于概率分布、测量设备、未测量变量的代理、干扰的缺席等辅助假设。这就是所谓的“杜厄姆-奎因问题”(杜厄姆 1906 年,奎因 1953 年,Cross 1982)。这些问题普遍存在,波普尔建议通过一种方法论决定来解决,即将推导的可检验推论的失败视为理论的失败。但在经济学中,这些辅助假设是可疑的,在许多情况下已知是错误的。做出波普尔要求的方法论决定是不合理的,会导致拒绝所有经济理论。

Imre Lakatos(1970 年)在他的大部分哲学生涯中都是波普的追随者,他提出了一个广义的波普式解决方案。Lakatos 坚持认为测试总是比较性的。当理论面临经验困难时,正如它们总是会面临的那样,人们会尝试对其进行修改。在科学上可接受的(在 Lakatos 的术语中称为“理论上的进步”)修改必须始终具有一些额外的可测试的推论;否则它们就纯粹是特设的。如果一些新的预测得到了证实,那么这种修改就是“经验上的进步”,人们有理由拒绝未经修改的理论并采用新理论,无论这两种理论在一般情况下有多么不成功。尽管进步可能难以实现,但 Lakatos 的观点并不像波普的观点那样具有破坏性的含义。Lakatos 似乎解决了如何评价主流经济理论的问题,他认为重要的是经验上的进步或倒退,而不是经验上的成功或失败。因此,Lakatos 的观点对经济方法学家比波普的观点更有吸引力。

发展托马斯·库恩(1970)的“范式”概念,并借鉴波普尔的一些暗示,拉卡托斯也提出了整个理论企业的全局理论结构的观点,他称之为“科学研究计划”。拉卡托斯强调,研究计划中有一组基本理论命题的“硬核”,这些命题定义了一个研究计划,并且在研究计划内部不容置疑。此外,研究计划的成员接受一套共同的启发式方法,指导他们在具体理论的阐述和修改中。这些观点也吸引了经济方法学家,因为经济学中的理论发展受到严格限制,而且乍看之下经济学似乎有一个“硬核”。经济学家不放弃那些看似错误的基本理论假设的事实,可能可以通过将它们视为“新古典研究计划”的“硬核”来解释和证明。

然而,拉卡托斯的观点并没有提供一个令人满意的解释,说明经济学如何能成为一门值得尊重的科学,尽管它依赖于极端简化。因为值得怀疑的是,新古典经济理论的发展是否已经表现出实证进展。例如,在上世纪 30 年代,将“基数”效用理论替换为“序数”效用理论(见下文 5.1 节),通常被认为是一大步前进,但实际上是用一个没有额外实证内容的理论替换了另一个。此外,尽管拉卡托斯强调启发式指导理论修改,但他仍强调测试。对于拉卡托斯来说,科学比主流经济学更加以经验为驱动(Hands 1992)。还有疑问的是,经济学中的研究企业是否具有“硬核”(Hoover 1991,Hausman 1992,第 6 章)。有关将拉卡托斯的观点应用于经济学的尝试,请参见 Latsis(1976)和 Weintraub(1985)。正如在 de Marchi 和 Blaug(1991)中所明显的那样,近年来,经济方法论的撰写者对拉卡托斯的哲学越来越感到失望(Backhouse 2009)。

波普的科学哲学存在第二个重大问题,这个问题也困扰着拉卡托斯的观点。两者均认为不存在经验证实这样的事物(对于一些晚期的疑虑,请参见拉卡托斯 1974)。波普和拉卡托斯坚持认为,证据从未提供理由相信科学命题是真实的,他们也否认测试结果可以证明在实际事务或理论探究中依赖陈述的合理性。对于一个未被证伪的命题,没有比另一个更好的证据。根据这一观点,怀疑某个命题是否有足够的证据来在理论研究或政策目的上依赖它的人,将犯下方法论上的“错误”,即认为可以有支持假设的证据。除了沃特金斯(1984)之外,波普传统内的哲学家很少面对这一具有挑战性的后果。

经济学修辞学

罗森伯格(1992)认为,经济学只能做出不精确的一般性预测,无法取得进展,因为它建立在民间心理学之上,这是一种关于人类行为的平庸理论,由于故意概念的不可简化,无法改进。复杂的经济理论仅作为应用数学在科学上有价值,而不是作为经验理论。由于经济学并没有像自然科学那样展现出一致的进步,人们无法否认罗森伯格的观点,即经济学是一个经验上的死胡同。但他认为经济学没有取得进展,也不允许定量预测的观点难以接受。例如,当代经济学家在定价股票期权或设计拍卖方面比一代前的经济学家要好得多。

麦克洛斯基(McCloskey)的反应同样激进但相反,她否认经济学必须符合任何非平凡方法论标准(1985 年,1992 年,1994 年,2000 年,McCloskey 和 Ziliak 2003 年,Ziliak 和 McCloskey 2008 年)。在她看来,评估学科实践和产品的唯一相关和重要标准是由从业者接受的标准。除了一些一般标准,如诚实和愿意听取批评,任何对话的唯一可证明标准是参与者的标准。经济学家可以摒弃哲学家评判经济话语的傲慢假设。任何一群受尊敬的经济学家认为是好经济学的东西,就自动成为好经济学。哲学上的实证成功标准只是一场空谈。那些对经济学特性感兴趣并希望为其改进做出贡献的人应该避开方法论,而是研究经济学的“修辞”——即在经济学家中取得成功的论证和说服手段。

麦克洛斯基对经济学修辞学的研究具有价值和影响力(1985 年,尤其是第 5-7 章,麦克洛斯基和齐利亚克 2003 年,齐利亚克和麦克洛斯基 2008 年),但在 20 世纪 80 年代和 90 年代,她的许多工作都是关于经济方法论的哲学批判,而不是关于经济修辞学的研究。她的哲学批判存在问题,因为前一段中勾勒的立场很难捍卫,可能是自我毁灭的。很难捍卫,因为认识论标准已经影响了经济学家的对话。导致人们对经济学产生疑虑的预测成功标准已经是许多经济学家接受的标准。摆脱这些疑虑的唯一方法是放弃产生这些疑虑的标准。但麦克洛斯基的立场破坏了任何关于改变标准的原则性论据。此外,正如罗森伯格所指出的(1988 年),如果经济学家放弃预测成功的标准,他们似乎将使自己陷入无关紧要的境地,因为政策决策正是基于这些标准。

麦克洛斯基实际上并不希望排除经济学家有时会在不应该被说服时被说服,或者在应该被说服时没有被说服的可能性。因为她本人批评了一些经济学家常有的坏习惯,即将统计显著性与经济重要性混为一谈(1985 年,第 9 章,麦克洛斯基和齐利亚克 2003 年,齐利亚克和麦克洛斯基 2008 年)。麦克洛斯基通常将修辞描述性地界定为研究实际上是什么说服了人,但有时她也将其规范地界定为研究应该是什么说服了人(1985 年,第 2 章)。如果修辞学是研究什么理性上应该说服的,那么它就是方法论,而不是方法论的替代。关于经济学是否是一门成功的经验科学的问题是无法消除的。

经济方法论中的“现实主义”

经济方法学家很少关注科学哲学中现实主义者和反现实主义者之间的辩论(van Fraassen 1980, Boyd 1984, Psillos 1999, Niniluoto 2002, Chakravarty 2010, Dicken 2016),因为经济理论很少假设不可观测的实体或属性的存在,除了“日常不可观测”的变体,如信念和欲望。另一方面,方法学家们激烈讨论经济学的目标,但那些认为最终目标是预测性的人(如弥尔顿·弗里德曼)这样做是因为他们对政策感兴趣,而不是因为他们试图避免或解决关于不可观测引用的认识论和语义难题。

然而,在经济方法论中存在着两个重要的现实主义项目。第一个项目主要由乌斯卡利·马基(Uskali Mäki)开发,致力于探索经济学家方法论表述和理论事业中隐含的现实主义的各种形式(参见马基 1990a,b,c,2007 年,以及 Lehtinen,Kuorikoski 和 Ylikoski 2012)。第二个项目由托尼·劳森(Tony Lawson)及其在剑桥大学的合作者主张,主要源自罗伊·巴斯卡尔(Roy Bhaskar)的工作(参见劳森 1997,2015 年,巴斯卡尔等人 1998,Fleetwood 1999,Brown 和 Fleetwood 2003,Ackroyd 和 Fleetwood 2004,Edwards,Mahoney 和 Vincent 2014)。在劳森看来,主流经济学的许多不足(他是批评者)可以追溯到对本体论的关注不足。试图在现象表面上识别规律的主流经济学家注定会失败。经济现象实际上受到许多不同因果因素的影响,人们只能对潜在机制和倾向获得科学知识,这些机制的运作只能间或和隐晦地在可观察的关系中窥见。马基和劳森的项目彼此关系不大,尽管马基(像米尔、卡特赖特和豪斯曼一样)与劳森和巴斯卡尔一样关注潜在因果机制。另请参见有关科学实在主义的条目。

经济方法论与科学社会研究

经济学在其历史中一直是社会学和方法论审视的对象。许多关于经济学的社会学讨论,如马克思对古典政治经济学的批判,关注于识别意识形态的扭曲,从而批评经济理论和经济政策的特定方面。由于每个政治纲领都能找到经济学家证明其经济优点,因此这类批评的材料源源不断。例如,在 2008 年国际金融体系几乎崩溃之后,主张实行紧缩政策的美国经济学家大多是共和党人,而那些支持增加总需求的人大多是民主党人。

当代科学社会学和科学社会研究的影响,以及方法论学者在理解和合理化经济学行为方面遇到的困难,导致了将经济学和社会学融合的努力(Granovetter 1985,Swedberg 1990,2007),以及方法论反思本身的社会学转向。与其展示支持经济理论发展的良好证据,或者这些发展具有其他广泛的认识优点,方法论学者和历史学家如 D. Wade Hands(2001);Hands 和 Mirowski(1998),Philip Mirowski(1990,2002,2004,2013)和 E. Roy Weintraub(1991)认为,这些变化反映了各种非理性因素,包括对理论经济学资金的变化,政治承诺,个人竞争,对隐喻的依恋或数学兴趣。

此外,许多相同的方法论学家和历史学家认为,经济学不仅是社会研究的对象,而且可以成为科学研究的工具。通过研究科学学科的激励结构以及对研究产生影响的隐性或明确市场力量(当然包括经济学研究),应该可以撰写科学经济学和经济学本身的经济学(Hands 1995,Hull 1988,Leonard 2002,Mirowski 和 Sent 2002)。

关于这项工作如何与经济学家所提出的主张有多大支持关系,目前尚不清楚。尽管避开了传统方法论,但 Mirowski 在经济学中物理类比的作用(1990)的专著经常对主流经济学持批判态度。在他的《没有规则的反思》(2001)中,D.W. Hands 认为一般方法论规则几乎没有用处。他捍卫一种方法论的自然主义观点,并对那些不基于详细知识的规定持怀疑态度。但他并不认为没有规则适用。

案例研究

上述对评价经济理论基本问题方法的调查远非完整。例如,已经做出了大量努力将科学理论的结构主义观点(Sneed 1971,Stegmüller 1976,1979)应用于经济学(Stegmüller 等人 1981,Hamminga 1983,Hands 1985c,Balzer 和 Hamminga 1989)。上述讨论记录了关于如何解释和评价经济理论的多样性和分歧。毫不奇怪的是,在撰写经济方法论的人中,关于经济学特定方法的整体经验评价,包括主流微观经济学、宏观经济学和计量经济学,没有共识。当从业者无法达成一致意见时,那些懂得更多哲学但了解较少经济学的人是否能够解决问题是值得怀疑的。由于争论仍在继续,那些反思经济方法论的人应该继续发挥作用。

与此同时,还有许多其他更具体的方法论问题需要解决,这是次学科成熟的一个标志,越来越多关于经济方法论的研究涉及更具体的问题。有大量的研究作品,阅读任何最近一期《经济方法论杂志》或《经济学与哲学》都会证实这一点。目前正在讨论的一些问题范围在第 2 节中已经提到。以下是当前感兴趣的三个领域的列表:

  1. 尽管更关注经济学的内容而非其方法论,但最近关于女性主义经济学的研究爆发充满了方法论和社会学的自我反思。经济学家中男性比例明显高于其他社会科学领域,甚至大多数自然科学领域,这引发了关于这一学科是否存在特别男性化特质的疑问。重要文献包括 Ferber 和 Nelson(1993, 2003),Nelson(1995, 1996, 2001),Barker 和 Kuiper(2003)。自 1995 年以来,出版了一本刊物《女性主义经济学》,汇集了大部分相关研究。

  2. 在过去的几十年里,经济学实验室实验迅速扩大。实验室实验有许多不同的目标(见 Roth 1988),显然有望弥合基本经济理论和经验证据之间的鸿沟。其中一些揭示了方法论承诺如何影响经济学家重视经验证据的程度。当代经济学中许多实验室实验是为了行为经济学服务,行为经济学以重视关于个体选择结构和决定因素的实验证据而自豪。尽管行为经济学已在主流经济学中占据一席之地,但在实质和方法上仍存在争议,其对规范经济学的影响在下文第 6 节中讨论。

在偏好逆转的情况下,经济学家在下文第 5.1 节中简要讨论,他们对实验结果进行了相当多的关注,并承认这些结果否定了经济学的核心原则。但经济学家普遍不愿认真关注心理学家在观察到这些现象之前就预测到的理论。原因似乎是这些心理学理论没有与主流经济学的基本原则具有相同的广泛适用范围(Hausman 1992,第 13 章)。对于神经经济学的犹豫(Camerer 等人,2005 年,Camerer,2009 年,Marchionni 和 Vromen,2014 年,Rustichini,2005 年,2009 年,Glimcher 和 Fehr,2013 年,Reuter 和 Montag,2016 年,Vromen 和 Marchionni,2018 年)也很普遍。在一篇极具影响力的论文《无意识经济的案例》中,Gul 和 Pesandorfer(2008)认为行为经济学(和神经经济学)的发现与经济学无关。它们最多具有启发式价值。他们认为行为经济学的发现与经济学无关,因为它们不涉及市场选择及其后果,这是唯一相关的数据。有时候 Gul 和 Pesandorfer 似乎将经济理论与经济学家关注的经验后果等同起来,而在其他时候则回应了弗里德曼(见第 3.2 节)并否认经济模型“假设”的“现实主义”重要性。他们没有涉及像 Dietrich 和 List(2016)这样关于心理状态现实主义的复杂辩护。在我看来,对抗与 Gul 和 Pesandorfer 的论文中发现的行为经济学家的理论抵抗正在减弱。但很明显,指导理论经济学的方法论承诺比哲学家如波普尔和拉卡托斯提出的一般规则更加复杂,也更具体于经济学。

实验室实验的相关性仍然存在争议。行为经济学家热情洋溢,而更传统的理论家则质疑实验结果是否可以推广到非实验环境,更普遍地关于从实验中学习的可能性(Caplin and Schotter 2008)。有关实验经济学的讨论,请参阅 Guala(2000a,b,2005),Hey(1991),Kagel 和 Roth(1995,2016),Plott(1991),Smith(1991),Starmer(1999),Camerer(2003),Bardsley 和 Cubitt 2009,Durlauf 和 Blume(2009),Branas-Garza 和 Cabrales(2015),Fréchette 和 Schotter(2015),Jacquemet 和 L’Haridon(2018),以及 2005 年 6 月的《经济方法论杂志》特刊。Al Roth 的《博弈论、实验经济学和市场设计页面》(http://kuznets.fas.harvard.edu/~aroth/alroth.html)是一个有用的信息来源。有关行为经济学的最新研究,请参阅《行为经济学杂志》,《行为经济学评论》和《行为公共政策》。

  1. 在过去的一代人中,经济学家对实证因果研究的态度发生了根本性转变,尤其是在采用实地实验和自然实验的形式时,通常使用工具变量。例如,2018 年 2 月《美国经济评论》中约有三分之二的文章基于实证研究。目录中前四篇文章的标题分别是:“预审羁押对定罪、未来犯罪和就业的影响:来自随机分配法官的证据”,“美国税收政策对房价、租金和住房所有权的影响”,“感知政策不确定性的福利成本:来自社会保障的证据”,“住院的经济后果”。如果回顾二十五年前,1993 年《美国经济评论》第一期中只有约八分之一的文章似乎依赖于任何实证研究。前四篇文章分别是:“经济学家的当今任务”,“触发点和预算削减:解释财政紧缩的影响”,“经济政策、经济绩效和选举”,“奇爱博士的宏观经济学”。一个在 1983 年入睡并阅读主要经济学期刊的里普·范·温克尔,当他在 2018 年醒来时会感到震惊。

实地实验在发展经济学中尤为重要,各种外国援助项目的结果往往效益微薄。可以在 Carpenter 等人(2005)、Duflo 和 Banerjee(2011, 2017)、Gugerty 和 Karlan(2018)、Karlan 和 Appel(2011, 2016)、Kremer 和 Glennerster(2011)、List 和 Samek(2018)以及 Mullainathan 和 Shafir(2013)的作品中找到对这一工作的良好介绍。另请参阅贫困行动实验室。尽管实地实验似乎是建立什么有效、什么无效的坚实探究,事情并非如此简单(Deaton 2010,Cartwright 和 Hardie 2013)。如果没有对机制的了解,在特定时间和地点表现出色的干预措施在其他地方尝试时很容易彻底失败。即使在方法上精密,无理论探究作为知识获取策略也有严重局限性。实地实验在发展经济学中尤为重要,各种外国援助项目的结果往往效益微薄。可以在 Carpenter 等人(2005)、Duflo 和 Banerjee(2011, 2017)、Gugerty 和 Karlan(2018)、Karlan 和 Appel(2011, 2016)、Kremer 和 Glennerster(2011)、List 和 Samek(2018)以及 Mullainathan 和 Shafir(2013)的作品中找到对这一工作的良好介绍。另请参阅贫困行动实验室。尽管实地实验似乎是建立什么有效、什么无效的坚实探究,事情并非如此简单(Deaton 2010,Cartwright 和 Hardie 2013)。如果没有对机制的了解,在特定时间和地点表现出色的干预措施在其他地方尝试时很容易彻底失败。即使在方法上精密,无理论探究作为知识获取策略也有严重局限性。

经济学中的经验转向也增加了经济史的重要性。在某种程度上,尤其是在确定可能的工具变量时,历史上充满了“自然实验”。例如(J. Hausman 2016),1936 年,美国国会投票决定提前八年向一战退伍军人支付养老金。由于各州的退伍军人比例不同,Hausman 可以利用各州经济表现的差异来估计养老金提供的经济刺激效应。尽管不如随机对照试验那样决定性(通常难以实施),对这类历史事件的研究提供了关于经济假设的重要证据。

理性选择理论

经济学解释和预测现象作为个体选择的结果,这些选择本身是以所谓的理由解释的,因此必须将代理商描绘为在某种程度上理性。理性,像理由一样,涉及评估,正如一个人可以评估个体选择的理性一样,也可以评估社会选择的理性,并检查它们如何以及应该与个体的偏好和判断相关。此外,在战略情况下有关理性的复杂问题,其中结果取决于多个个体的选择。由于理性是哲学分支如行动理论、认识论、伦理学和心灵哲学中的核心概念,对理性的研究经常跨越经济学和哲学之间的界限。

个体理性

上述第 1.1 节讨论的理性的骨干理论认为,如果一个代理人的偏好(对事务状态的排名)是完整且传递的,那么它是理性的,并且认为如果代理人不偏好任何可行的替代方案,则代理人的选择是理性的。这样一个理性的理论显然太弱了,因为它对信念或者当代理人不确定(确切地说)与其选择相关的一切时,理性意味着什么没有提出任何观点。但它也可能太强了,因为正如 Isaac Levi 特别指出的(1986 年),在涉及不确定性的情况下拥有不完整的偏好并不是不理性的。有时,暂停判断并拒绝对不太了解的替代方案进行排名是理性的。另一方面,传递性是一个合理的条件,所谓的“金钱泵”论证表明,如果一个人的偏好是不传递的,并且愿意进行交换,那么他就会被利用。(假设代理人 A 更喜欢 X 而不是 Y,Y 而不是 Z,Z 而不是 X,并且 A 将支付一些小额钱 P 换取 Y,然后 P 再换取 Z 等等。代理人并不愚蠢。他们会拒绝交易或调整他们的偏好以消除不传递性(但请参见 Schick 1986)。

另一方面,有相当多的实验证据表明,人们的偏好实际上并不是传递的。这种证据并没有证明传递性不是理性的要求。相反,它可能表明人们有时是不理性的。例如,在所谓的“偏好逆转”案例中,人们实际上似乎做出了不理性的选择(Lichtenstein and Slovic 1971,Tversky and Thaler 1990)。持续违反传递性的证据令人不安,因为理性的标准不应该过高。

进一步探讨理性的基本理论存在的一个困难是关于偏好或选择对象的个体化。例如,考虑多阶段提案博弈的数据。假设 A 可以提出任何分配 5,而 B 可以提出分配 7 给 A 和 5 给 B,其中 3 给 3 作为某种“不公平待遇”的一部分,支持$2.50 作为公平安排的一部分。如果以这种方式定义选择对象,那么不存在传递性的失败。

这个合理的观察引发了一个严重的问题。除非对选择对象的个体化有约束,诸如传递性的理性条件就是空洞的。A 选择 X 而不选 Y,选择 Y 而不选 Z,再选择 Z 而不选 X,并不违反传递性,如果“当备选是 Y 时选择 X”并非与“当备选是 Z 时选择 X”是同一个选择对象的话。约翰·布鲁姆(1991)认为,需要进一步的理性实质原则来限制备选如何个体化,或要求代理人在“当备选是 Y 时选择 X”和“当备选是 Z 时选择 X”之间保持中立。

将理性理论扩展到涉及风险的情况(在这种情况下,选择的对象是已知概率的彩票)和不确定性的情况(在这种情况下,代理人不知道概率甚至不知道选择的所有可能结果)需要进一步的理性原则,以及有争议的技术简化。主观贝叶斯主义者认为,在不确定情况下,个体具有明确定义的主观概率(信念程度)覆盖所有回报,因此选择的对象可以被建模为彩票,就像涉及风险的情况一样,只是用主观概率代替客观概率。请参阅贝叶斯定理和贝叶斯认识论的条目。在风险和不确定条件下的理性选择理论所需的最重要的公理之一是独立条件。它大致表示理性代理人在两个仅在一个结果上有所不同的彩票之间的偏好应该与他们在不同结果之间的偏好相匹配。尽管最初看似合理,独立条件却备受争议。请参阅 Allais 和 Hagen(1979)以及 McClennen(1983,1990)。

理性选择理论的一个重要部分涉及对理性条件的形式化以及对其影响的研究。当一个代理人的偏好是完备且传递的,并满足进一步的连续性条件时,它们可以被称为序数效用函数所表示。这意味着可以定义一个函数来表示代理人的偏好,使得如果且仅当代理人更喜欢 X 而不是 Y 时,U(X) > U(Y),如果且仅当代理人对 X 和 Y 之间无差别时,U(X) = U(Y)。这个函数仅代表了偏好排序。它不包含超出排序的任何信息。“U”的任何保序变换都可以很好地表示代理人的偏好。

当一个代理人的偏好除了满足独立条件和其他一些技术条件之外,它们可以被一个期望效用函数(Harsanyi 1977b, ch. 4, Hernstein and Milnor 1953, Ramsey 1926, and Savage 1972)所表示。这样的函数有两个重要的特性。首先,一个彩票的期望效用等于其奖品的(期望)效用按其概率加权的总和。其次,期望效用函数在正仿射变换下是唯一的。这意味着如果 U 和 V 都是代理人偏好的期望效用函数,那么对于所有的偏好对象 X,V(X) 必须等于 a**U(X) + b,其中 a 和 b 是实数,a 是正数。此外,理性的公理意味着代理人的信念程度将满足概率演算的公理。

许多争议围绕着理性理论,对理性理论进行了许多正式调查,以削弱或修改理性理论。有关进一步讨论,请参阅 Allais 和 Hagen 1979,Barberà,Hammond 和 Seidl 1999,Kahneman 和 Tversky 1979,Loomes 和 Sugden 1982,Luce 和 Raiffa 1957,Machina 1987 以及 Gilboa 和 Schmeidler 2001。

5.2 集体理性和社会选择

尽管社会与个体有很大不同,但它们有机制来评估选择并做出选择,它们的评估和选择可能是理性的或非理性的。然而,很明显,应该有什么样的理性原则来指导社会的选择和评估并不明显。传递性是一个合理的条件。似乎一个社会在面对选择 X 或 Y 时选择 X,在面对选择 Y 或 Z 时选择 Y,在面对选择 X 或 Z 时选择 Z,要么是心意改变了,要么是做出了非理性的选择。然而,这样的所谓非理性很容易由旨在将社会选择与个体偏好联系起来的标准机制引起。假设社会中有三个个体。个体一对备选方案 X、Y、Z 进行排名。个体二对它们进行排名为 Y、Z、X。个体三对它们进行排名为 Z、X、Y。如果通过两两多数投票做出决策,X 将从(X、Y)中被选择,Y 将从(Y、Z)中被选择,Z 将从(X、Z)中被选择。显然这是令人不安的,但社会选择中可能存在的循环是非理性的吗?

类似问题影响了社会判断的逻辑连贯性(List and Pettit 2002)。假设社会由三个个体组成,他们对命题 P 和 Q 的真假做出以下判断,并且社会判断遵循多数意见。

个人的判断符合逻辑原则,而社会判断违背了这些原则。社会判断与逻辑原则保持一致有多重要?

社会选择理论在某种程度上涉及社会理性问题,但大多数社会选择理论的研究探讨了与明确的伦理约束相结合的理性原则的后果。开创性的贡献是肯尼斯·阿罗的不可能定理(1963 年,1967 年)。阿罗假设个体偏好和社会偏好都是完全且传递的,并且形成社会偏好的方法(或进行社会选择)对于任何可能的个体偏好配置都会产生某种社会偏好排序或社会选择。此外,阿罗施加了一个弱一致性条件:如果每个人都更喜欢 X 而不是 Y,则 Y 不应被社会优先考虑。第三,他要求不存在一个独裁者,其偏好决定社会偏好或选择,而不考虑其他任何人的偏好。最后,他强调社会在 X 和 Y 之间的偏好应取决于个体如何对 X 和 Y 进行排序,而不取决于其他任何因素。然后,阿罗证明了一个令人惊讶的结果,即没有一种方法可以满足所有这些条件来关联社会和个体偏好!

自阿罗撰写以来的六十年中,社会选择理论领域涌现了大量研究,其中很多可以说对伦理学具有重要意义。例如,约翰·哈萨尼证明,如果个体偏好和社会评估都满足预期效用理论的公理(具有共享或客观概率),并且社会偏好符合一致的个体偏好,那么社会评估将由个体效用的加权和确定(1955 年,1977a)。马修·阿德勒(2012)延伸了类似哈萨尼的方法,证明了一种加权效用主义的形式,该形式优先考虑那些处境较差者的利益,独特地满足了更长的理性和伦理约束清单。当概率分配存在分歧时,会出现一个不可能的结果:一致性条件意味着对于某些个体偏好配置,社会评估将不满足预期效用理论的公理(Hammond 1983,Seidenfeld 等,1989 年,Mongin 1995)。有关社会选择理论和效用理论对社会评估的相关性的进一步讨论,请参阅社会选择理论条目,Sen(1970),以及最近的重新评估 Fleurbaey(2007)和 Adler(2012)。

博弈论

当结果取决于多个代理的行为时,一个代理的最佳选择可能取决于其他代理的选择。尽管仍然适用于规范个体选择的理性原则,可以说还有进一步的理性原则来规范对他人行为的期望(以及他们对你的行为和期望的期望等)。 博弈论在经济学中扮演着日益重要的角色,它也与关于理性和伦理的探讨相关。有关进一步讨论,请参阅博弈论、博弈论与伦理学以及进化博弈论的条目。

经济学和伦理学

正如在第 2.1 节中讨论的那样,大多数经济学家区分实证经济学和规范经济学,大多数人会认为经济学之所以与政策相关主要是因为其提供有关政策后果的(正面)信息。然而,同样的经济学家也提供关于如何修复经济的建议,而规范经济学是一个完整的领域。

经济结果、制度和过程可能在几种不同的方式上更好或更糟。一些结果可能使人们更加幸福。其他结果可能更少不平等。其他可能更严重地限制个人自由。经济学家通常仅从福利的角度评估结果。这并不意味着他们认为只有福利具有道德重要性。他们关注福利,是因为他们相信经济学提供了一套优秀的工具来解决福利问题,并且希望福利问题能够与平等、自由或正义问题分开讨论。正如下文所述,经济学家对道德评价的其他维度有一些看法,但福利占据主导地位。事实上,规范经济学通常被称为“福利经济学”。

经济学哲学

道德哲学的一个核心问题是确定什么是对人类本质上有益的事物。这是一个核心问题,因为所有合理的道德观都赋予个体福祉或幸福重要的地位。这显然适用于功利主义(认为正确的是最大化总体或平均福祉),但即使是非功利主义的观点也关注福祉,如果它们承认仁慈的美德,或者如果它们关注个体的利益或避免对个体造成伤害。

有许多思考幸福的方式,而在经济学家中盛行的观点已经从享乐主义(将好视为一种心理状态,如快乐或幸福)转变为认为福利应该通过满足偏好来衡量。目前有许多知名经济学家主张回归享乐主义,但他们仍然是少数派。(参见 Bavetta 等人 2014 年,Clark Flèche 2018 年,Dolan 和 Kahneman 2014 年,Frey 2010 年,2018 年,Frey 和 Stutzer 2001 年,Kahneman 1999 年,2000a 年,2000b 年,Kahneman 和 Krueger 2006 年,Kahneman 和 Sugden 2005 年,Kahneman 和 Thaler 2006 年,Layard 2006 年,Ormerod 2008 年,Radcliff 2013 年,Weimann 和 Knabe 2015 年,批评方面参见 Davies 2015 年,Etzioni 2018 年,以及 Hausman 2010 年。)与享乐主义不同,将福利视为偏好满足指定了如何找出对一个人有益的事物,而不是承诺任何关于一个人好的实质性观点。请注意,将福利与偏好满足等同并不等同于将福利与任何满足感等同起来。如果福利可以通过偏好满足来衡量,那么一个人如果他或她所偏好的事情发生,那么他或她就会更好,而不管这种发生是否会让代理人感到满意。

主流经济学认为所有经济主体都具有一致的偏好排序,而更具体的模型通常认为经济主体都是消息灵通且自私自利的,因此经济学家很容易接受这样一种观点:如果事实上对于个体经济主体 A 来说,X 比 Y 更好,那么个体经济主体 A 将更喜欢 X 而不是 Y。这是积极理论渗入规范理论的一个地方。此外,将福利与偏好满足等同起来对经济学家具有吸引力,因为这样可以避免对于家长式干预的正当性(大多数经济学家强烈反对)的问题甚至产生。

福利和偏好的满足可能会重合,因为偏好的满足构成了福利,或者因为人们是自私的,能够很好地判断自己的利益,因此更喜欢对他们有益的事物。对偏好的满足构成福利的观点存在许多明显的异议。偏好可能基于错误的信念。人们可能更喜欢为了某些他们更看重的目的而牺牲自己的幸福。偏好可能反映过去的操纵或扭曲的心理影响(Elster 1983)。此外,如果偏好的满足构成福利,那么政策制定者可以通过塑造人们的需求而不是改善条件来使人们变得更好。此外,社会政策应该关注奢侈的偏好似乎是不合理的。经济学家可以通过将人们自私且能够很好地判断自己利益的情况下的偏好视为促进福利的良好证据,从而削弱这些异议(Hausman and McPherson 2009, Hausman 2012)。有一些例外,尤其是阿马蒂亚·森(1987a,b,c, 1992),但大多数经济学家认为福利与偏好的满足是一致的。

效率

因为将福利与偏好满足等同起来,使得人们是否可以进行人际福利比较成为一个问题,很少有经济学家会支持将政策视为最大化总体或平均福利的功利主义观点(Harsanyi 是一个例外,另见 Ng 1983)。经济学家们反而探讨了在不进行人际比较的情况下对经济过程、制度、结果和政策进行福利评估的可能性。考虑两种经济结果 S 和 R,假设有些人更喜欢 S 而不是 R,而没有人更喜欢 R 而不是 S。在这种情况下,S 对 R 是“帕累托优越”,或者说 S 是对 R 的“帕累托改进”。在不进行任何人际比较的情况下,可以得出这样的结论:在 S 中人们的偏好得到了更好的满足。如果没有任何状态是对 S 帕累托优越的,那么经济学家会说 S 是“帕累托最优”或“帕累托有效”的。这里的效率是指相对于满足偏好而不是最小化生产一个单位产出所需的输入数量或其他技术概念的效率(Le Grand 1991)。如果一个状态不是帕累托有效的,那么社会就错失了无成本地更好地满足一些人的偏好的机会。帕累托有效的状态避免了这种失败,但它没有其他明显的优点。例如,假设没有人感到满足,人们只关心他们得到多少食物。考虑两种食物分配情况。在第一种情况下,数百万人挨饿,但没有食物浪费。在第二种情况下,没有人挨饿,但有些食物被浪费了。第一种是帕累托有效的,而第二种则不是。

经济学家们认为帕累托改进和帕累托效率的概念似乎是无用的,因为经济政策几乎总是有赢家和输家。然而,主流经济学家还是发现这些概念在两个方面很有用。首先,他们证明了两个关于完全竞争均衡性质的定理(Arrow 1968)。第一个定理说,在完全竞争市场中的均衡是帕累托最优的,第二个定理说,任何帕累托最优的分配,无论政策制定者可能更喜欢什么样的收入分配,都可以作为完全竞争市场均衡来实现,只要开始时经济主体之间的禀赋分配恰到好处。第一个定理被认为是支持亚当·斯密看法的无形之手(Arrow and Hahn 1971, preface; Hahn 1973)。这种解释是有问题的,因为没有任何经济体曾经或将来会处于完全竞争均衡状态。第二个定理为经济学家们偏好的规范分工提供了一些理由,一些经济学家关心效率,而另一些关心公正。思想是第二个定理表明,公正分配的理论与依赖竞争市场是相容的。福利经济学的两个基本定理在一定程度上解释了为什么主流经济学家,无论他们支持自由放任政策还是政府干预以纠正市场缺陷,都认为完全竞争均衡是理想的。但是这些定理的意义是有争议的,因为实际市场与完全竞争市场有很大不同,当存在多个市场缺陷时,“第二最佳理论”表明修复其中一些缺陷可能会使社会远离完全竞争均衡(并降低效率和福利),而不是朝着完全竞争均衡的方向发展(Lipsey and Lancaster 1956–7)。

经济学家发现延伸帕累托效率概念的另一种方法是成本效益分析,这是一种政策分析的实用工具(Mishan 1971; Sugden and Williams 1978; Adler and Posner 2000, 2006; Broadman et al. 2010; Boadway 2016)。假设 S 不是对 R 的帕累托改进。社会的一些成员在从 R 转变为 S 时会成为输家。这些输家更喜欢 R 而不是 S,但有足够多的赢家——足够多的人更喜欢 S 而不是 R——赢家可以补偿输家,使得对 S′(支付补偿的 S)而言优先于 R 的偏好变得一致。S 是对 R 的“潜在帕累托改进”。换句话说,赢家愿意支付的金额大于输家必须得到补偿的金额,以便不反对这种变化。(经济学家对于询问人们愿意支付多少钱这一问题持怀疑态度,他们试图从市场现象中间接推断个体愿意支付的金额。)当 S 是对 R 的潜在帕累托改进时,就说政策带来 S 是有“净利益”的。根据成本效益分析,在符合法律和道德约束的合格政策中,其他条件相等的情况下,应该采用具有最大净利益的政策。请注意,补偿完全是假设性的。潜在帕累托改进导致赢家和输家,其公正与否与成本效益分析无关。正义或善行可能要求社会采取措施来缓解分配不平衡。因为有更大量的商品和服务“蛋糕”来满足偏好(因为可以支付补偿并且每个人的偏好更好地得到满足),选择具有最大净利益的政策有助于经济效率(Hicks 1939, Kaldor 1939)。

尽管成本效益分析的实际重要性很高,但前一段中概述的技术和其理由存在问题。一个技术难题是,S 可能是对 R 的潜在帕累托改进,而 R 可能是对 S 的潜在帕累托改进(Scitovsky 1941,Samuelson 1950)!这意味着 S 对 R 的潜在帕累托改进并不意味着 S 中有比 R 更大的经济“蛋糕”,因为在 S 中当然不能有比 R 更大的经济蛋糕,在 R 中也不能有比 S 更大的经济蛋糕。第二个问题是,对某些政策的支付意愿以及如果反对该政策则需要多少补偿,这取决于一个人拥有多少财富以及对该政策的态度。成本效益分析更加权衡富人的偏好,而不是穷人的偏好(Baker 1975)。可以大致补偿收入和财富的影响(Harburger 1978,Fankhauser 等人 1997),但这样做很麻烦,成本效益分析通常在没有对财富或收入进行任何调整的情况下使用。

传统福利经济学面临的另一个严重困难,似乎一直隐藏在明处,即选择并不完全是偏好的指标,而偏好本身也不完全是增进幸福的指标。表明偏好满足并不构成幸福(错误信念、缺乏信息、他向和非理性偏好)的同样事实表明,选择和偏好有时会误导幸福的指标。此外,一旦认识到只有在代理人能够准确判断什么对他们有利时,偏好才是福利的良好指标,就必须承认,即使代理人拥有所需的所有信息,他们也并不总是能够准确判断什么对他们有利。在某些情境下,这些问题可能不太重要。例如,人们在新汽车之间的偏好很大程度上是自私的、深思熟虑的和充分了解的。在其他情境下,比如环境保护,忽视问题的偏好通常信息不足,而采取行动的偏好通常不是自私的。无论哪种情况,人们对解决环境问题的政策的普遍偏好都不太可能是福利的良好指南。

忽视这些问题对规范经济学来说是一个很大的便利。如果人们的选择揭示了他们的偏好,而这又表明了对他们有益的东西,那么,正如之前所指出的,政府行为引导某人的选择永远不会让那个人变得更好,因此关于是否支持家长式政策的问题就不会出现。但无论是否明智,成功的家长式政策并非不可能;行为经济学家最近的研究表明了各种系统性的思考错误,这使得关于家长式政策的问题重新成为焦点(Ariely 2009,Kahneman 2011)。一些经济学家一直在寻找识别代理人“真实”偏好的方法(如 Infante 等人 2016 年所述)。另一些人认为政策制定者必须尊重代理人在目标中的偏好,同时在这些偏好受到错误判断或虚假信念扭曲时,可以否决手段中的偏好(Thaler 和 Sunstein 2008,Le Grand 和 New 2015)。此外,Thaler 和 Sunstein 提出政府探索非强制性影响人们做出更好选择的方法(“推动”)的建议已经在政策制定者中广受欢迎,并且可以说已经将关于家长式政策的哲学讨论从米尔(1859 年)关于避免强制的焦点转移开来(Shiffrin 2000,Hausman 和 Welch 2010,Le Grand 和 New 2015)。

6.3 规范经济学的其他方向

尽管福利经济学和对效率的关注主导了规范经济学,但并未穷尽这一主题,在与哲学家的合作中,经济学家对当代伦理学和规范社会政治哲学的工作做出了重要贡献。第 5.2 节和第 5.3 节略微提及了社会选择理论和博弈论的贡献。此外,经济学家和哲学家一直致力于提供自由的形式特征化问题,以便运用经济分析工具(Pattanaik 和 Xu 1990,Sen 1988,1990,1991,Carter 1999,Sugden 2018)。其他人则发展了社会福利函数的形式特征化,优先考虑那些处境较差者的利益,或者支持资源、机会和结果的平等,并区分个人和社会对不平等的责任(Pazner 和 Schmeidler 1974,Varian 1974,1975,Roemer 1986b,1987,Fleurbaey 1995,2008,Fleurbaey 和 Maniquet 2014,Greaves 2015,McCarthy 2015,2017)。John Roemer 利用当代经济建模工作提供了对剥削的精确描述(1982)。Amartya Sen 和 Martha Nussbaum 不仅对规范经济学的适当关注进行了新颖解释,而且以能力为基础(Sen 1992,Nussbaum 和 Sen 1993,Nussbaum 2000),Sen 将其与平等主义的特征化和对剥夺的操作性测量联系起来(1999)。规范经济学和道德哲学之间存在许多活跃的互动。另请参阅关于古典自由主义、家长主义、平等主义和经济学[规范]以及经济正义的条目。

结论

经济学和哲学之间的边界涉及方法论、理性、伦理学和规范社会政治哲学,充满活力。这种活动多种多样,涉及非常不同的问题。尽管其中许多问题相关,经济学哲学并非一个统一的企业。它是一系列独立的调查,通过问题之间的联系和主流经济模型和技术的主导影响相互联系。

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Readers may want to consult the Journal of Economic Methodology, Vol. 8, No. 1, March 2001 Millennium symposium on “The Past, Present and Future of Economic Methodology” the and Binder et al. 2016. For an encyclopedic overview of economic methodology, see the Handbook of Economic Methodology edited by Davis, Hands, and Mäki. For a comprehensive bibliography of works on economic methodology through 1988, see Redman 1989. Essays from economics journals are indexed in The Journal of Economic Literature, and the Index of Economic Articles in Journal and Collective Volumes also indexes collections. Since 1991, works on methodology can be found under the number B4. Works on ethics and economics can be found under the numbers A13, D6, and I3. Discussions of rationality and game theory can be found under A1, C7, D00, D7, D8, and D9.

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  • Taylor, M., 1987. The Possibility of Cooperation, New York: Cambridge University Press.

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Rationality

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  • Friedman, M. and L. Savage, 1952. “The Expected-Utility Hypothesis and the Measurability of Utility”, Journal of Political Economy, 60: 463–74.

  • Gerrard, B., 1993. The Economics of Rationality, London: Routledge.

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  • Gilboa, I., L. Samuelson, and D. Schmeidler, 2015. Analogies and Theories: Formal Models of Reasoning, New York: Oxford University Press.

  • Gilboa, I., and D. Schmeidler, 2001. A Theory of Case-Based Decisions, New York: Cambridge University Press Press.

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  • Hargreaves-Heap, S., 1989. Rationality in Economics, Oxford: Blackwell.

  • Harsanyi, J., 1977b. Rational Behavior and Bargaining Equilibrium in Games and Social Situations, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Hausman, D., 2012. Preference, Value, Choice and Welfare, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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  • Howson, C. and P. Urbach, 1989. Scientific Reasoning: The Bayesian Approach, LaSalle, IL: Open Court.

  • Jeffrey, R., 1983. The Logic of Decision, 2nd edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  • Kahneman, D. and A. Tversky, 1979. “Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Making under Risk”, Econometrica 47: 263–91.

  • Kreps, D., P. Milgrom, J. Roberts, and R. Wilson, 1982. “Rational Cooperation in the Finitely Repeated Prisoners’ Dilemma”, Journal of Economic Theory, 27: 245–52.

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  • Machina, M., 1987. “Choice under Uncertainty: Problems Solved and Unsolved”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 1: 121–54.

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  • Stone, P., 2011. The Luck of the Draw: The Role of Lotteries in Decision Making, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Other works cited

  • Backhouse, R., 2002. The Ordinary Business of Life, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

  • Becker, G., 1981. A Treatise on the Family, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

  • Bentham, J., 1789. An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, W. Harrison (ed.), Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1967.

  • Bhaskar, R., 1975. A Realist Theory of Science, Leeds: Leeds Press.

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  • Cantillon, R., 1952. “Essai sur la nature du commerce en général”, Paris: Institut national d’études démographiques. translated version available on-line.

  • Cartwright, N., 1983. How the Laws of Physics Lie, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

  • –––, 1989. Nature’s Capacities and their Measurement, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

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  • Cartwright, Nancy and Jeremy Hardie, 2013. Evidence-Based Policy: A Practical Guide to Doing it Better, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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  • Godfrey-Smith, P., 2006. “The Strategy of Model-Based Science”, Biology and Philosophy, 21: 725–40.

  • Kuhn, T., 1970. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2nd edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  • Lakatos, I., 1970. “Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes”, in Lakatos and Musgrave 1970, pp. 91–196; also in Lakatos 1978b, Volume 1, pp. 8–101.

  • –––, 1974. “Popper on Demarcation and Induction”, in P. Schlipp (ed.), The Philosophy of Karl Popper, LaSalle, IL, Open Court, pp. 241–73; reprinted in Lakatos 1978b, Volume 1, 139–67.

  • Lakatos, I. and A. Musgrave (eds.), 1970. Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Morgan, M. and M. Morrison (eds.), 1999. Models as Mediators: Perspectives on Natural and Social Science, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Morgenbesser, S., 1956. “Theories and Schemata in the Social Sciences”, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.

  • Morishima, M., 1973. Marx’s Economics: A Dual Theory of Value and Growth, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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  • Putnam, H., 1962. “The Analytic and the Synthetic”, in Feigl and Maxwell 1962, pp. 350–97.

  • Quine, W.V.O., 1953. “Two Dogmas of Empiricism”, in From a Logical Point of View, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 20–46.

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  • Williams, B., 1981. “Internal and External Reasons” in Moral Luck, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 101–113.

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  • Winch, P., 1958. The Idea of a Social Science, London: Routledge.

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  • Worrall, J., 2007. “Why There’s No Cause to Randomize”, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 58(3): 451–488.

Academic Tools

Other Internet Resources

Websites

Blogs

There are now a large number of blogs by prominent economists. Though not predominantly concerned with methodology and typically not exclusively concerned with economics, these blogs show economists arguing with one another, responding to current events, and formulating and reformulating their views. The following are of particular interest, but there are many more:

action | Bayes’ Theorem | economics [normative] and economic justice | epistemology: Bayesian | folk psychology: as a theory | game theory | game theory: and ethics | game theory: evolutionary | Hume, David | individualism, methodological | intentionality | Kuhn, Thomas | Lakatos, Imre | laws of nature: ceteris paribus | Mill, John Stuart | Popper, Karl | preferences | reasons for action: justification, motivation, explanation | risk | scientific explanation | scientific realism | Smith, Adam: moral and political philosophy | social choice theory | socialism | well-being

Copyright © 2018 by Daniel M. Hausman <dhausman@cplb.rutgers.edu>

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