Without having read some philosophy of science, this book may prove to be a little difficult. But itās worth persevering for its excellent methodological background and strong argument than abandoning "rationalism" doesnāt push us into the abyss.

Yes, it is possible to do "real research" in finance using qualitative methods. This article describes what they are.

This is a transcript of a wide-ranging discussion of under-discussed problems with finance theory.

Dividends are much less of a puzzle if we consider their social function.

For a discipline that prides itself on objectivity, it is very interesting how ideologically biased its methodology and language are.

Wide-ranging discussion of numerous methodological issues in finance.

Is financeās best-selling method a defective product? This article suggests the cautionary label that should appear on every event study.

This article is almost 50 years old, and it shows, but this is still the best description of what it is that economists think they do. Youāve undoubtedly already read it, but read it again, especially after having read more recent articles on methodology.

This article could be useful for those finance researchers interested in studying internal processes of financial institutions.

A primer on how numbers can be used to prove anything.

Language does matter. If you ever doubted it, this will convince you.

This is the first article to seriously consider what economists really do as opposed to what they say they do. It was later expanded into a book, The Rhetoric of Economics (Madison, Wisconsin: Univerisity of Wisconsin Press, 1985).

Assumptions do matter. This is one article to read before re-reading Friedman.

This is a critical look at one of the most important models of finance theory. While the model itself may not have changed, what we think that is has changed quite a bit.

By 1930, economists had pretty much given up on the possibility of statistical measurement of risk because it was a hopelessly flawed idea. Then we went ahead and did it anyway.

We like to believe that our methodology is universal, but does it really carry a lot of cultural baggage along with it?

This is one of the earliest "clinical studies" of economists' "physics envy." It was later expanded into a book, More Heat Than Light, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989). In turn, the book was the subject of a conference, the proceedings of which were published as Non-Natural Social Science: Reflecting on the Enterprise of More Heat Than Light, Annual Supplement to Volume 25, History of Political Economy, (Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1993).

An astonishingly clear and insightful discussion of the "assumptions issue".

An examination of whether modern finance theory really works, and if not, why it has spread so vigorously.

A philosopher explains the nature of "social facts." Mainstream finance, economics and accounting operate under the supposition that social objects (e.g., money) have independent existence analogous to natural objects. Thus, social phenomena may be understood in the same way as natural phenomena. Searle provides an account of why social facts are constituted by social processes, which make social "reality"not analogous to physical reality.

Economics may be an art and its equations may be beautiful, but no one ever described economists as artists in quite this way.

This article describes the social changes that caused the largely descriptive discipline of "business finance" to change itself into the more respectable, and also more remunerative, "financial economics."