Lars P. Syll

Randomness and probability — a theoretical reexamination Modern probabilistic econometrics relies on the notion of probability. To at all be amenable to econometric analysis, economic observations allegedly have to be conceived as random events. But is it really necessary to model the economic system as a system where randomness can only be analyzed and understood when based on an a priori notion of probability? In probabilistic econometrics, events and...

Keynes vs the Stockholm School approach to economics The Stockholm method seems to me exactly the right way to explain business-cycle downturns … But the “problem” with the Stockholm method was that it was open-ended. It could offer only “a wide variety” of “model sequences,” without specifying a determinate solution. It was just this gap in the Stockholm approach that Keynes was able to fill. He provided a determinate equilibrium, “the limit to which the...

Hommage à Max von Sydow  [embedded content] Max von Sydow was a Swedish actor who featured in more than 100 films and TV series. He made many memorable film roles, but the one that touched me most was as the father in Pelle Erobreren — based on Martin Andersen Nexö’s epic masterpiece. Bille August directed. Stefan Nilsson wrote the music. Max von Sydow made the performance of his life. And it breaks my heart every time I watch it. A legend has died. Long...

[embedded content] A choir of angels touching the depths of my soul. Heavenly music.

The Keynes/Hicks macro theory — the nonexistence of a New Keynesian unicorn Paul Krugman has on numerous occasions tried to defend “the whole enterprise of Keynes/Hicks macroeconomic theory” and especially his own somewhat idiosyncratic version of IS-LM. The main problem, however, is that there is no such thing as a Keynes/Hicks macroeconomic theory! So, let us get some things straight. There is nothing in the post-General Theory writings of Keynes that...

 [embedded content] The economic implications of gender discrimination are most serious. To deny women is to deprive a country of labor​ and talent, but — even worse — to undermine the drive to achievement of boys and men. One cannot rear young people in such wise that half of them think themselves superior by biology, without dulling ambition and devaluing accomplishment … To be sure, any society will have its achievers no matter what, if only because it has its own division...

Sydsvenska Dagbladet — grodors plums och ankors plask I Sydsvenskans huvudledare kunde vi idag läsa följande: Gång på gång framhåller [73-punkts]överenskommelsen också att fokus ska ligga på kvalitet — inte driftsform — i den politiska styrningen av olika välfärdstjänster. Detta är givet ur liberalt perspektiv. Trots de brister som finns inom vissa verksamheter har avregleringarna på det hela taget gett medborgarna bättre service, utbud och valfrihet som få...

Where do you go to my lovely  [embedded content]

Om slöjförbud och rasistkort  [embedded content]

Ça plane pour moi  [embedded content]