Lars P. Syll

The belief in the power and necessity of formalizing economic theory mathematically has thus obliterated the distinction between cognitively perceiving and understanding concepts from different domains and mapping them into each other. Whether the age-old problem of the equality between supply and demand should be mathematically formalized as a system of inequalities or equalities is not something that should be decided by mathematical knowledge or convenience. Surely it would...

To many conservative and neoliberal politicians and economists,​ there seems to be a spectre haunting the United States and Europe today — Keynesian ideas on governments pursuing policies raising effective demand and supporting employment. And some of the favourite arguments used among these Keynesophobics to fight it are the ‘confidence argument’ and the ‘doctrine of sound finance.’ Is this witless crusade against economic reason new? Not at all. If mainstream economists had...

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 [embedded content] If anything, Snow’s path-breaking research underlines how important it is not to equate science with statistical calculation. All science entail human judgement, and using statistical models doesn’t relieve us of that necessity. Working with misspecified models, the scientific value of statistics is actually zero — even though you’re making valid statistical inferences! Statistical models are no substitutes for doing real science. Or as a famous German...

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Och de döda skall icke tiga men tala DE DÖDA De döda skall icke tiga men tala. Förskingrad plåga skall finna sin röst, och när cellernas råttor och mördarnas kolvar förvandlats till aska och urgammalt stoft skall kometens parabel och stjärnornas vågspel ännu vittna om dessa som föll mot sin mur: tvagna i eld men inte förbrunna till glöd, förtrampade slagna men utan ett sår på sin kropp, och ögon som stirrat i fasa skall öppnas i frid, och de döda skall...

Modern economics is sick Modern economics is sick. Economics has increasingly become an intellectual game played for its own sake and not for its practical consequences for understanding the economic world. Economists have converted the subject into a sort of social mathematics in which analytical rigour is everything and practical relevance is nothing … If there is such a thing as “original sin” in economic methodology, it is the worship of the idol of the...

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Heterodoxy and pluralism in economics A sense of failure is, for all intents and purposes, being translated into a context of relative success requiring more limited changes – though these are still being seen as significant. Part of the reason that they are seen as significant is that changes from within mainstream economics do not have to be major in order to appear radical. It is our contention that heterodox economics is being marginalised in this...