Economic Methods in Positive Political Theory

This article focuses on economic methods in political science, specifically on positive political theory. It provides a sketch of the two canonical approaches to developing a positive political theory: collective preference theory and game theory. It is argued that these two techniques are distinguished by their trade-offs, despite having some clear formal differences. The article also considers other specific techniques within the game-theoretic approach, which are designed to accommodate two important analytical characteristics that are distinctive to political science.