Lars P. Syll

How to teach econometrics Professor Swann (2019) seems implicitly to be endorsing the traditional theorem/proof style for teaching econometrics but with a few more theorems to be memorized. This style of teaching prepares students to join the monks in Asymptopia, a small pristine mountain village, where the monks read the tomes, worship the god of Consistency, and pray all day for the coming of the Revelation, when the estimates with an infinite sample will...

On the use of mathematics in economics Balliol Croft, Cambridge 27. ii. 06 My dear Bowley, I had a growing feeling in the later years of my work at the subject that a good mathematical theorem dealing with economic hypotheses was very unlikely to be good economics: and I went more and more on the rules — (1) Use mathematics as a short-hand language, rather than as an engine of inquiry. (2) Keep to them till you have done. (3) Translate into English. (4)...

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What went wrong with economics To be ‘analytical’ is something most people find recommendable. The word ‘analytical’ has a positive connotation. Scientists think deeper than most other people because they use ‘analytical’ methods. In dictionaries, ‘analysis’ is usually defined as having to do with “breaking something down.” But that’s not the whole picture. As used in science, analysis usually means something more specific. It means to separate a problem...

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In his history of experimental social science — Randomistas: How radical researchers are changing our world (Yale University Press, 2018) — Andrew Leigh gives an introduction to the RCT (randomized controlled trial) method for conducting experiments in medicine, psychology, development economics, and policy evaluation. Although it mentions there are critiques that can be waged against it, the author does not let that shadow his overwhelmingly enthusiastic view on RCT. Among...

The Coase theorem and the legitimacy of property rights From the perspective of the Coase theorem, it becomes ‘natural’ to consider the task of legislators as mainly deciding for which part externality rights have the greatest value and then distribute the rights accordingly. Sounds ‘natural’ to mainstream economists, but maybe one should think twice … There are very good reasons for not making a god of efficiency … Keeping old people in old people’s homes...

‘New Keynesianism’ — the art of making relevance irrelevant There really is something about the way macroeconomists construct their models nowadays that obviously doesn’t sit right. Empirical evidence still only plays a minor role in mainstream economic theory, where models largely function as a substitute for empirical evidence. One might have hoped that humbled by the manifest failure of its theoretical pretences during the latest economic-financial...

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