The statement and question you wrote is one reason why many refer to economics as the dismal science. Why study it if you can never come to hard conclusions? To answer that question, yes, the good economists combine history and economics. Economics can help explain why certain historical events played out the way they did. Furthermore, history can also provide great examples of the laws of economics in motion. Even better, sometimes it seems like the laws of economics are somehow *seemingly* disobeyed. These events in particular are very interesting because if the laws of economics are truly laws, it should be impossible for them to be disobeyed, so therefore, there must be more to the story - the laws of economics are indeed laws.
For example, we do not say that a child jumping is defying the law of gravity, but that these is something else in play, say Newton's third law (every action [the child pushing down with their legs/feet] has an equal and opposite reaction [the child leaving the ground]) that lets the child go up. If you only knew the law of gravity, it would seem the child disproves a scientific law. Similarly, if you do not study economics, or the event that seemingly breaks and economic law, thoroughly, you can be led to believe that economics has nothing of value in predicting the outcome of particular events. Since I have dedicated a large portion of my life to this study, my actions demonstrate I believe there is much to gain in this field. Either that or I am coping.
For example, we do not say that a child jumping is defying the law of gravity, but that these is something else in play, say Newton's third law (every action [the child pushing down with their legs/feet] has an equal and opposite reaction [the child leaving the ground]) that lets the child go up. If you only knew the law of gravity, it would seem the child disproves a scientific law. Similarly, if you do not study economics, or the event that seemingly breaks and economic law, thoroughly, you can be led to believe that economics has nothing of value in predicting the outcome of particular events. Since I have dedicated a large portion of my life to this study, my actions demonstrate I believe there is much to gain in this field. Either that or I am coping.