Economic methodology and the history of economic thought

Learning objectives

Distinguish positive statements, which can be tested against evidence, from normative statements based on value judgements

Explain how economists build models using simplifying assumptions such as ceteris paribus, and the role of hypotheses, empirical evidence and refutation

Outline the development of economic thought from laissez-faire and the classical school through Marx and Keynes to the monetarist and new classical views

Explain how behavioural economics and concern for the environment have shaped twenty-first-century economic thinking