How exogenous is science?

Abstract

I begin by recalling Kuznets's view that the distinctive feature of modern industrial societies is their success in applying systematized knowledge to the economic sphere, knowledge derived from scientific research. This view has the disconcerting aspect, at least for the economist, of appearing to make the central feature of modern economic growth an exogenous phenomenon. If that is really the way the world is, then we ought to acknowledge it gracefully and accept the fact that the major determinants of a central economic phenomenon lie outside the economists' range of analysis. Economists have many reasons for humility these days, and perhaps one additional reason will not be too marginally burdensome.