Page 35 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES: THEORY AND PRACTICE, V.80, # 1, 2023, pp. 35-53

UNDERSTANDING EPISTEMOLOGY AND METHODOLOGY
IN ADOLPH LOWE’S POLITICAL ECONOMICS

NALIN RANJAN

Ganga Singh College, Jaiprakash University, Bihar, India
Email: [email protected]
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3894-3365

Received: January 27; accepted May 31, 2023; published online June 26, 2023

ABSTRACT
Owing to scientific overspecialisation of economics in present days, modern economic
theory considers economic system as a closed system amenable to methods of hard
sciences. This often ignores any discourse on methodological aspects of economics.
Purpose: This paper aims to add to the methodological discourse in economics by
delineating Adolph Lowe's political economics and its method of instrumental
inference. It is argued that Lowe's political economics provides a logical framework
for public policy in the era of modern capitalism, giving economics a goal-seeking
orientation. Approach: The essay first brings out the epistemological foundations of
Lowe's political economics and explains the need for a new method in the era of
modern capitalism. It then critically analyses the method of instrumental inference
with a proposed application in contemporary national planning. Practical
implications: The paper argues that the framework of instrumental inference is a
plausible open system framework for public policy and can also be useful in designing
policy processes. This becomes more relevant in recent days as development planning
has gained pace and the number of countries with development plans has increased
greatly especially in pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With a
revived global interest in planning, a reliable framework to look at local and national
planning may be the framework of political economics propagated by Adolph Lowe.

Keywords: Adolph Lowe, Instrumental Inference, Political Economics, Economic
Methodology, Public Policy

JEL classification: B31, B40, O21, P11

INTRODUCTION
“Why did no one see it coming?” was perhaps the most difficult question of the great
crisis year of 2008 thrown at the economists by a curious non-expert queen Elizabeth
while on a visit to London School of Economics. The question prompted a flurry of
brainstorming within the global scholar community ruing upon the state of
macroeconomics.

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