How Economics Forgot History - The Problem of Historical Specificity in Social Science (Paperback, New)

In arguably his most important book to date, Hodgson calls into question the tendency of economic method to try and explain all economic phenomena by using the same catch-all theories and dealing in universal truths. He argues that you need different theories to analyse different economic phenomena and systems and that historical context must be taken into account.

Hodgson refers widely to the work of the unfairly neglected German Historical School to make his point. This school has been severely under-rated by mainstream economists and dismissed as scientific. However, there is growing interest in their work and they can be seen as laying the foundations for the work of the pioneer institutional economists, who themselves are gaining currency today.