ABSTRACT
The case of the capital concepts considered in the study exemplifies a broader expansionist tendency of economics toward other social sciences. It is useful to illuminate some key features of what is most often called "economic imperialism." This, it will be seen, will also allow for a passing to the subsequent part of our analysis that has been mentioned in the introduction to the book. Economics uses a methodology that produces refutable implications and tests these implications using solid statistical techniques. Economists use the construct of rational individuals who engage in maximizing behavior. Even Edward P. Lazear himself admits that the weakness of economics is that to be rigorous, simplifying assumptions must be made that constrain the analysis and narrow the focus of the researcher. The standard complaint about economics is the claim that those difficulties have been evaded by settling on theories that are nothing but imaginary fictions.
