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"Economic theory". Scientific journal,

N 4, 2004. - P. 53-64.

М. Dovbenko,
Director of the Institute of Open Policy,
Doctor of Economic Sciences

Since the period from 1946 to 1971 got the name "Keynes' age" among the economists, naturally, the question arises as to what happened in the sphere of economic theory after it? There is no unambiguous answer. The same is true concerning the active efforts in finding it. It is not so good, because a generalizing view on the violent contradictory thoughts taught by the economists for the last several decades is extremely necessary, at least, to understand what is happening to us and where we are going to. That would facilitate, in its turn, the determination of a right answer in the discussions taking place in the society from time to time about whether we have the ascent or crisis of economic science.

Having read the major part of textbooks on "Economic theory", you are sure to find information about the "sraffinian revolution," "monetary counterrevolution," "neoclassical synthesis," or Friedrich August von Hayek's lessons. But, it is quite clear that the works of economists-theorists go far beyond this list of ideas. So, what economic contribution has science been enriched with for the last several decades? Can't the enormous number of textbooks and manuals on "History of economic thought," "Economic theory," "Macro-" or "Microeconomics" be enlarged with anything worthy?!

I suggest turning our attention to the Nobel prize introduction in 1969 and further annual awards of this prize in the sphere of economics. In my opinion, this event has great impact both on the development of economic theory and the formation of economic practice. The introduction of such an award was not the wish of Alfred Nobel, a talented Swedish inventor, who suggested to honor the scientists for great achievements in five fields of scientific and public activity in 1901. Sooner, this was a distinctive experiment initiated by the group of Swedish scholars and bankers who took into account the conditions of the famous patron's will. We should like to emphasize that this experiment is successfully, to a surprise, realized.

For the time being, the Nobelists managed to offer a lot of modern advanced economic developments, concepts, projects, and ideas to the world community. In fact, in the final third of the XXth century, we got a new branch of economics which can be conditionally called as economic nobeleology. This is a huge new layer of economic knowledge which, undoubtedly, needs to be studied comprehensively and expanded actively.

In the recent textbooks, we can meet the statement about "the impossibility to pose a controlled experiment in economic theory" with the thought that economics as a science is devoid of any experimental content. In the best case, economists could only rely on the verification of the conclusions drawn up from their theories based on statistical data. However, in our impetuous time, common axioms lose rapidly their truth, even if they belong to recognized classics. Thanks to the American scientist Vernon L. Smith, the experiments in the sphere of economy became a very important method in economics. They help to comprehend the essence of the processes running in the economic reality, to understand both the interrelation of different factors and the interaction of causes and effects, to reveal vivid tendencies, and to predict a probable course of events.