Great Theoretical Controversies

The chapter deals with some of the major controversies of the period between the end of the war and the mid-Seventies. Firstly, the methodological controversy between Cowles Commission (represented by Tjalling Koopmans) and NBER (represented by Rutledge Vining), known as the “Measurement Without Theory” controversy, is examined. Secondly, the main mainstream methodological controversy on Milton Friedman’s Methodology of Positive Economics, which involved two of the most important economists of the period, Paul Samuelson and Herbert Simon, is analyzed. Lastly, the chapter deals with “the reswitching of techniques” theoretical controversy which involved economists of the two Cambridges (Cambridge, England, and Cambridge, Massachusetts) in a debate which concerned the measurement of capital goods in a way consistent with the requirements of neoclassical economic theory.