Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/84352 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
Serie Documentos de Trabajo No. 417
Publisher: 
Universidad del Centro de Estudios Macroeconómicos de Argentina (UCEMA), Buenos Aires
Abstract: 
In Hume's epistemology, induction leads to discovery in matters of fact. However, because of the poor data Hume analyzes the balance of trade with a thought experiment, doing what Mill makes explicit afterwards: reason from assumptions, to reach conclusions which are true in the abstract. Hume's potential explanation, what Peirce later calls abduction, is backed by a case study, the price revolution of the 16th century, which supports half his abductive inference, when money supply is multiplied fivefold. Given that economics reasons abductively, Hume's attention to realistic hypotheses and the adjustment process matters.
Subjects: 
abduction
case studies
realistic assumptions
Hume
Mill
Peirce
Hayek
Akerlof
JEL: 
B1
B4
E4
E5
F1
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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