Francesco Boldizzoni: A critical comment

In this comment on Boldizzoni (2013), I outline that his argumentation is problematic and his historical point unclear. He claims that a historical perspective exposes the 'pseudo'-dimension in science and history. From the case of Chili, he concludes that Chicago-economics is a pseudo-science. This accusation backfires when his own argument is problematic from a scientific and historical perspective. However, I can broadly agree with what is written about the history of economics as a discipline. I am sympathetic towards Boldizzoni's observation about the relevance of history. I agree that we should go beyond the assumption of rational decision making, and propose a value-based approach to economics, where behaviour is seen as the realization of values, of which some values have a history. Hence, our understanding of history play a large role in understanding everyday behaviour. I argue that people need history as a source for meaningful life and action.

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