Should Economics Emulate Natural Sciences?

by Frank Shostak

Economists have always been envious of the practitioners of the natural and exact sciences. They have thought that introducing the methods of natural sciences such as a laboratory where experiments could be conducted could lead to a major breakthrough in our understanding of the world of economics.

But while a laboratory is a valid way of doing things in the natural sciences, it is not so in economics. Why is that so?

A laboratory is a must in physics, for there a scientist can isolate various factors relating to the object of inquiry.

Although the scientist can isolate various factors he doesn’t, however, know the laws that govern these factors.

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