Reassessing the paradigm of economics : bringing positive economics back into the normative framework (book review)

Mosini makes an interesting, even intriguing case for the claim that Friedman provided ‘the methodological basis of the neoliberal paradigm’ (p. 97). Her case is well worth reflecting upon and engaging with. As should be evident, I am not convinced that the case she makes is incontestable. In brief, I think F53 is too contradictory and ambiguous and Friedman’s applied work is too methodologically diverse to sustain the claim to a single, unified framework for neoliberalism or anything else (cf. Helm 1984; Stanley 1985). I believe it is more accurate to say that neoliberalism has no genuine methodological basis; instead its proponents merely make opportunistic rhetorical claims to objectivity and scientific status when necessary. That said, Reassessing the Paradigm of Economics provides economists, both orthodox and heterodox, with much food for thought and constructs an original and challenging argument which specialists in methodology should grapple with.