Abstract
The ‘battle of methods’ between Carl Menger (1840–1921) and Gustav Schmoller (1838–1917) is one of the most important methodological debates in the history of economics. It began with the publication of Menger’s book on method (1883), which made the case for pure theory based on assumptions about behaviour and antecedent conditions. Schmoller responded with a strongly worded review (1883) that argued for principles of economics based on empirical historical data and the inductive method. Menger answered with an equally vehement statement of The Errors of Historicism (1884). The infuriated Schmoller refused even to read it (Schmoller 1884). A torrent of books and papers by others followed over the next several decades. The best summary of the entire controversy is Ritzel (1951).
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Bibliography
Menger, K. 1883. Untersuchungen über die Methode der Sozialwissenschaften, und der politischen Oekonomie insbesondere. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. Ed. L. Schneider and trans. F.J. Nock as Problems of economics and sociology, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1963.
Menger, K. 1884. Die Irrthümer des Historismus in der deutschen Nationalökonomie. Vienna: Alfred Hölder.
Ritzel, G. 1951. Schmoller versus Menger. Offenbach: Bollwerk-Verlag.
von Schmoller, G. 1883. Zur Methodologie der Staats- und Sozialwissenschaften. Jahrbuch für Gesetzgebung, Verwaltung und Volkswirtschaft im deutschen Reich 8: 974–994.
von Schmoller, G. 1884. Jahrbuch für Gesetzgebung, Verwaltung und Volkwirtschaft in deutschen Reich, 677.
von Schmoller, G. 1900–4. Grundriss der allgemeinen Volkswirtschaftslehre. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot.
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Fusfeld, D.R. (2018). Methodenstreit. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_773
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_773
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