On the question of the methodology of the system economy

Abstract

The article focuses on the crisis in economic science and the need for the formation of a new scientific paradigm. The pros and cons of the system economy, which claims to be a new paradigm in economic science, are considered. The insufficient elaboration of the methodology of the system economy, in particular, the weakness of the system approach, is revealed. It is shown that the system approach does not have sufficient explanatory and predictive power to become a methodological basis for the synthesis of economic science achievements. The general properties and features of economic systems that distinguish them from the entire variety of systems are revealed. It is emphasized that the main difference between economic systems is their ability not only to regulate the level of their entropy, but also to accumulate and use negative entropy - negentropy. Examples of the use of entropy terminology and methodology in economic research, both successful and unsuccessful, are described. It is proposed to turn to the primary sources and use the dynamics of thermodynamic and information entropy to study economic systems. It is shown how the dynamics of thermodynamic and information entropy are related to the economic behavior of socio-economic systems. The new opportunities provided by the inclusion of elements of the entropy approach in the methodology of the system economy are substantiated. Unsolved theoretical and methodological problems are identified.