David Colander has been writing about economic methodology for over 30 years, but he goes out of his way to emphasize that he does not see himself as a methodologist. His pragmatic methodology is applicable to what economists are doing and attempts to answer questions that all economists face as they go about their work. The articles collected in this volume are divided, with the first part providing a framework underlying Colander's methodology and introducing Colander's methodology for economic policy within that framework. Part two presents Colander's view on the methodology for...

David Colander has been writing about economic methodology for over 30 years. His pragmatic approach sees applied policy methodology as rooted in what economists actually do, not in what methodologists say they should do. It sees applied policy methodology as constantly evolving as analytic and computational technology changes, evolving far too fast to be subject to any rigid scientific methodology. That problem is that economists generally think of applied policy analysis as applied science. Colander argues that using a scientific methodology to guide applied policy undermines good...