Methodological Problems in Contrasting Economic Systems.

This article points out some of the methodological deficiencies exhibited by the current literature on comparative economic systems to which students at present are exposed. It is obvious that the criterion of market efficiency involves a sort of egocentric myopia of which one should be wary in any serious discussion of normative economics. It is even more obvious that this approach is worse than meaningless and useless when attempting to compare and evaluate totally different social and economic systems. Such an undertaking requires not only an explicit, normative model of the Good Society and the Good Man but also entails the necessity of attempting an evaluation of any and all important social and cultural institutions and their relationships to the whole social system. In conclusion it can be said that it is hardly ever made explicit whether the basis for certain classifications of different systems is "ideal-typical" or "real-typical" or some inadmissible combination of the two. Furthermore, simply to speak of mixed systems, especially within the too narrow economic context, does not get us very far either, particularly if no "ideal-typical" polar concepts are established simultaneously to permit plausible determination of the various "mixes" possible. In this age of empirical studies and attempts at verification it is unfortunate that such lines of investigation, which also isolate the economic features of a system from the social milieu, are so dominant.