Social science != science?
George Soros, quoted here , proposes that economics and other social sciences shouldn't be asked to produce testable theories. Because: ...social theories will be judged on their merits and not by a false analogy with natural science. I propose this as a convention for the protection of scientific method, not as a demotion or devaluation of social science. The convention sets no limits on what social science may be able to accomplish I don't quite agree. If we abandon the idea of testable social theories, we do limit what social science can accomplish. I'd propose an alternative approach. Allow and expect that some social theories will not be testable. In many cases a subjective interpretation of the facts can provide value; whether it's Michael Porter's five forces model of markets, or the Jungian model of storytelling interpreted in ' The Seven Basic Plots '. Other theories, however, will be testable. An economic relationship between growth, inflat...