The Methodenstreit (Dispute Over Methods): The Austrian School Versus the German Historical School

Austrian economists have a reputation for intensive—some would say excessive—ruminations on the methodology of economics. The Austrian moniker itself originates in the Methodenstreit between the early Austrians and the German historical school. The Austrians argued that abstract economic theory has a central role to play in understanding economic phenomena, while the historical school insisted that economists require a large body of evidence about particular historical circumstances before making theoretical pronouncements.

--Adam Martin, "Austrian Methodology: A Review and Synthesis," in The Oxford Handbook of Austrian Economics, ed. Peter J. Boettke and Christopher J. Coyne (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015), 13.