著者

藤田 菜々子 FUJITA Nanako

出版者

名古屋大学大学院経済学研究科

雑誌

経済科学 (ISSN:00229725)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.51, no.2, pp.63-81, 2003-09-30 (Released:2008-12-11)

---

There is a big problem in the study for Gunnar Myrdal. While Myrdal told that he had an “inner consistency” among his various studies and had built up an intellectual “edifice” there, no one has shown the integrated figure of Myrdal, especially from the point of view of his methodology and theoretical thinking. This paper focuses on Myrdal’s theory of circular and cumulative causation : CC theory. At the basis of CC theory, there is a methodology of “explicit value premises”. The relationship between “explicit value premises” and CC theory enables us to better understand the practical meaning of Myrdal’s economics. Myrdal insisted that the important role of economics is to be practical. Myrdal evaluates the power of psychological and institutional elements in the process of social change. He is against such a position that there is only one standard of value, for example, utility. He didn’t expect a general and abstract theory, rather he did expect real and practical theories. The conclusion is that, first, we can understand the integrated figure of Myrdal only from the CC theory. Second, there is the need for re-evaluation Myrdal’s economics.