But they need help in thinking about their before-calculations rhetoric. Some economists have tried to subject the law to a few experimental tests. These three arguments are properly 'scientific,' in the strange modern English usage of the word, although only the third quite matches the received view of scientific method. The Scientific arguments yield mixed results. Belief in the Law of Demand is the distinguishing mark of an economist, demarcating her from other social scientist more even than her other peculiar beliefs, such as that assets equal liabilities plus net wealth.
Economists believe it ardently.
Only some part of their ardor, therefore, is properly Scientific. The rest is below the demarcation line. Introspection is an important source of belief. The economic scientist asks in view of her experience of life and her knowledge of economics what other people might do if the price of gasoline doubled. A novelist, likewise, might ask how Huck would respond to Jim's slavery, or a critic might ask how an audience would react to the sacrifice of Coriolanus.