The Genetic‐Causal Tradition and Modern Economic Theory

This paper is an analysis of a specific tradition of causal thinking in economics--this was most self-consciously developed in the work of the Austrian school but spilled over into other approaches. Genetic-causal explanations place emphasis, inter alia, on processes in time, emanating from changes in agents' desires and beliefs. The authors present a brief history of this approach, outline its major characteristics, differentiate genetic-causal explanation from other kinds of explanation, and illustrate the approach in mid- and late-twentieth century economic theory. Copyright 1996 by WWZ and Helbing & Lichtenhahn Verlag AG