AXEC provides a superior method of economic analysis and takes it for granted that Walrasian and Keynesian approaches and their derivatives successively vanish in the storage depot of obsolete ideas. This is not to overlook organizational inertia. But the fact that, for example, general equilibrium theory or IS-LM is still part of a curriculum is not a criterion of scientific validity. Academic economics and scientific economics is not necessarily the same thing.
AXEC is about how the economy works and not primarily about the behavior of people in the economic realm nor about the good or bad actions of politicians, central bankers, entrepreneurs, financiers, managers, employees, or all kinds of associations. Psychologism is regarded as a pointless form of explanation because every action can be explained by imputing motives and expectations. Psychologism thus conveys the illusion of understanding. Economic theory as a logical edifice cannot be built upon a specific assumption about human behavior (greed, stupidity, rationality, morality, will to power, love, spirituality, etcetera) but must be compatible with any. Economics is fundamentally different from both psychology and sociology.
"There is another alternative: to formulate a completely new research program and conceptual approach. As we have seen, this is often spoken of, but there is still no indication of what it might mean." (Ingrao and Israel, The Invisible Hand, 1990)
The ancient Greeks introduced the distinction between doxa and episteme, opinion and knowledge. Macro-axiomatic economics is about episteme and not about personal opinions. Without a correct theory, there is no chance of understanding what is actually going on in the economy, and opinions are simply hanging in the air. Theory comes first, opinion does not count for much. It is just the opposite in a talk-show, a blog, or a newspaper.
The subjective-behavioral approach leads to insubstantial filibustering about the agents' economic conduct and therefore has to be replaced by the objective-structural paradigm. Alone the latter has a sound methodological underpinning.
Scientific communication is guided by the code true/false, moral communication by good/bad-evil, and social communication by like/dislike. AXEC applies exclusively the first code.
The conclusions of a theory relate to the real world and follow in logical steps from the premises. Therefore, everyone can verify a theory that is properly axiomatized, or alternatively, can attempt to falsify it. In the course of verification/falsification, there is no recourse to belief, authority, majority, common sense, intuition, acceptability, values, tacit knowledge, seniority, prestige, group ties, shared philosophy, mutual interests, or other presumed indicators of credibility. All these popular indicators distract from the real issue. Credibility is no scientific criterion, solely formal and material consistency are. Credibility makes only sense in relation to opinion, not with regard to knowledge. Opinion, in turn, relates to political economics, knowledge to theoretical economics. Both realms are mutually exclusive. Opinion is a social construct, knowledge stands for itself. Opinion is scientifically irrelevant.
The necessary and sufficient precondition of theoretical economics is the tentative acceptance of an axiom set, the ability to draw logical conclusions, the insistence on material and logical consistency, and the acceptance of refutation if it so happens. A set of axioms is neither a creed nor a dogma but constitutes the essential formal steppingstone of a comprehensive scientific inquiry. To find the correct axioms is decisive. The AXEC axiom set is a powerful engine of discovery. As far as one can see, there is no serious alternative.