Neoclassical Theory Structure and Theory Development

1. Introduction for philosophers of science.- 2. On the cause of fruitless methodology (an introduction for economists).- 3. Aims and set-up of this study.- A. Two central theses in the theory of international trade and their place in the economists' world view.- A.1. The neoclassical economists' world view: neoclassical foundations of economic analysis.- A.2. The effects of international trade through the economists' spectacles: comparative statics.- A.3. Two central theses in the theory of international trade.- A.4. Why are the theorems "interesting".- B. The emergence of interesting theorems.- B.1. Introduction.- B.2. The Stolper-Samuelson Exposition.- B.3. Questions arising in connection with the S&S-exposition.- C. Economic "normal science" centred around interesting theorems.- C.1. Introduction.- C.2. Some central concepts in informal symbolism.- C.3. Examples of research centred around the S&S-theorem.- C.4. Research centred around the factor price equalization theorem.- C.5. Summary.- D. Consolidation: metatheory on theory structure and theory development in the Ohlin-Samuelson research programme.- E. The hypothesis of the plausibility strategy.- E.1. The "plausibility strategy": a first approach.- E.2. Initial explanatory power of the hypothesis.- E.3. Elementary plausibility.- E.4. SEPC, the enigma.- F. Problems of econometrics. The mutal independency thesis.- F.1. Identification problems.- F.2. Anchoring problems.- F.3. How these problems arise from the nature of theory development in the Ohlin-Samuelson programme.- F.4. The mutual independency thesis.- G. Conclusion: results and relevance.- G.1. Summary of the metatheory.- G.2. Some concluding remarks on the relationship between theory development and plausibilism.- G.3. Some beliefs aboutthe generality of the metatheory.- G.4. The merits and problems of other metatheories if applied to neoclassical general equilibrium research programmes.- G.5. Vice, Virtue and Rationality.- H. Appendix: a