Lars P. Syll

Economics education needs a revolution Economics has become a rather quaint and highly guarded discipline. We urgently need to update economics education to change this – because economics, as taught in universities, does not reflect or speak to many of the issues of the real world, be they political, environmental or social. Take the tricky entanglement between politics and economics, which economists tend to try to avoid. Such an attempt is futile....

 [embedded content] Tomorrow is Mother’s Day here in Sweden. This one is in loving memory of my mother Lisbeth, and of Kristina, beloved wife and mother of David and Tora. Those whom the gods love die young. But in dreams, I can hear your name. And in dreams, We will meet again. When the seas and mountains fall And we come to end of days, In the dark I hear a call Calling me there I will go there And back again. [embedded content]

Adorno: Jargon der Eigentlichkeit  [embedded content]

10 Jahre Finanzkrise: Die Party der Banker geht weiter  [embedded content]

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Friday on my mind  [embedded content]

Leader of the pack  [embedded content]

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Although expected utility theory is both theoretically and descriptively inadequate, mainstream economists gladly continue to use it, as though its deficiencies were unknown or unheard of. Daniel Kahneman writes — in Thinking, Fast and Slow — that expected utility theory is seriously flawed since it doesn’t take into consideration the basic fact that people’s choices are influenced by changes in their wealth. Where standard microeconomic theory assumes that preferences are...

Randomization and experimental design in the social sciences Thad Dunning’s book Natural Experiments in the Social Sciences is a very useful guide for social​ scientists interested in research methodology in general and natural experiments in specific. Dunning argues that since random or as-if random assignment in natural experiments obviates the need for controlling potential confounders, this kind of “simple and transparent” design-based research method...