ABSTRACT
In the few places where Popper directly refers to economics, he is almost never discussing his falsificationist approach to natural science. Instead, economics is discussed in the context of his ‘situational analysis’ or ‘situational logic’ approach to historical and social explanation. Of course if ‘situational analysis’ were entirely consistent with Popper’s falsificationist philosophy of social science, then the current characterization of Popper by economic methodologists would be entirely appropriate. Regrettably though, this is not the case. Most philosophers who have addressed this issue, including Popper himself, have implied that situational analysis produces explanations which are entirely unique to social science and less than adequate when judged by strict falsificationist standards.
