Lars P. Syll

Comment le système éducatif français aggrave les inégalités sociales  [embedded content] Il est vraiment symptomatique de ce système éducatif en pleine tourmente, que en France, seulement 9% des jeunes de 15 ans font la différence entre un fait et une opinion …

Modell och verklighet i ekonomisk teori Ofta är tanken hos mainstreamekonomer att modeller och teorier genom »successiva approximationer« ska närma sig »sanningen« genom att inkorporera fler och fler faktorer och genom att släppa efter på de idealiserande antagandena. Detta användande av »isolering« och »successiva approximationer« som ett slags heuristisk metod är inte övertygande. För att metoden ska fungera väl krävs både att de faktorer man studerar i...

Perhaps the most striking application of hyper-rationality occurs in Analytical Marxism, whose doctrines were outlined clearly and concisely by its leading philosopher Gerald Cohen … It is an anti-dialectical and anti-holistic attempt to ground Marxist notions in neoclassical methodology. It “believes that [neoclassical] economics is essentially sound” and consequently relies on rational choice theory, game theory, and associated neoclassical mathematical techniques to derive...

Public trust in economists People are obviously not so impressed by the “queen of the social sciences”. And rightly so. Mainstream economics today is more like an ideological-religious conviction than a realist and relevant social science that people can trust for making their lifes or societies better.

HARDtalk with Esther Duflo [embedded content] This year’s ‘Nobel prize’ winners think that economics should be based on evidence from randomised experiments and field studies. Duflo et consortes want to give up on ‘big ideas’ like political economy and institutional reform and instead go for solving more manageable problems the way plumbers do. Yours truly is far from sure that is the right way to move economics forward and make it a relevant and realist...

[embedded content] Marie Fredriksson (1958-2019). A great singer and fighter has passed away. Your soulful and sensitive voice will live on forever. Thanks for everything. A thing of beauty is a joy forever

2019 ‘Nobel prize’ reveals the poverty of economics RCTs have delivered intriguing insights into how poor people think and act, but also into how behavioural economists do. For example, when a slew of high-profile RCTs failed to deliver the evidence that researchers expected on the ‘miracle of microfinance’, the researchers paid little heed to the implications of their insignificant and sometimes even negative findings. Instead, they focused attention onto...

Dagens ekonomiutbildningar måste bli mer verklighetsanknutna och framför allt lära ut den roll som pengaskapare som bankväsendet har i ekonomin – om vi ska undvika framtida kriser. Professorer och Lärarkårer på Ekonomiutbildningar, Banker och deras roll i skapandet av pengar är en väsentlig del av moderna, finansialiserade ekonomier. Likväl ges dagens ekonomistudenter en långtifrån fullgod bild av saken. Som personer med makt att påverka nästa generation ekonomer, är det av...

Uber’s gender pay gap study Uber has conducted a study of internal pay differentials between men and women, which they describe as “gender blind” … The study found a 7% pay gap in favor of men. They present their findings as proof that there are issues unrelated to gender that impact driver pay. They quantify the reasons for the gap as follows: Where: 20% is due to where people choose to drive (routes/neighborhoods). Experience: 30% is due to experience …...

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