Lars P. Syll

Does using models really make economics a science?​ The model has more and more become the message in modern mainstream economics. Formal models are said to help achieve ‘clarity’ and ‘consistency.’ Dani Rodrik — just to take one prominent example — even​ says, in his Economics Rules, that “models make economics a science.” Economics is more than any other social science model-oriented. There are many reasons for this — the history of the discipline, having...

Paul Romer — a flamboyant and hot-headed economist L’Américain Paul Romer, qui s’est vu décerner lundi le prestigieux prix Nobel d’économie aux côtés d’un de ses compatriotes William Nordhaus, est un économiste flamboyant à la carrière mouvementée, connu pour ses travaux mesurant la part de l’innovation dans la croissance. A 62 ans, il est actuellement professeur à l’Université de New York … Il avait quitté en octobre 2016 le monde universitaire pour...

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Paul Romer’s endogenous growth theory — a very short introduction   Advertisements

The British school system​ — damaging working-class children While on the surface middle and working class children appear to be receiving the same comprehensive education, in some​e cases while attending the same schools, the entrenchment of policies of choice and excessive testing, assessment, sorting and sifting mean that they are increasingly educated apart as they move through the school system. The divide in English education is not just between...

Vad ska vi göra nu när dom som skulle visa vägen har tappat kompassen? [embedded content] Ja, det är nog en berättigad fråga att ställa i denna kunskapsrelativismens era där gamla vänsterradikaler blivit postmoderna socialkonstruktivister och tror att världen ska ändras med tyckmyckentrutat ordbajseri … Med en posthumanistisk ansats belyser och reflekterar jag över hur både människa och häst överskrider sina varanden och hur det öppnar upp ett mellanrum med...

 In practice, what math does is let macro-economists locate the FWUTVs [facts with unknown truth values] farther away from the discussion of identification … Relying on a micro-foundation lets an author say, “Assume A, assume B, …  blah blah blah … And so we have proven that P is true. Then the model is identified.” … Distributional assumptions about error terms are a good place to bury things because hardly anyone pays attention to them. Moreover, if a critic does see that...

At last — Paul Romer got his ‘Nobel prize’​ Among Swedish economists, Paul Romer has for many years been the favourite candidate for receiving the ‘Nobel Prize’ in economics. This year the prediction turned out right. Romer got the prize (together with William Nordhaus). The ‘Nobel prize’ in economics has almost exclusively gone to mainstream economists, and most often to Chicago economists. So how refreshing it is that we for once have a winner who has...

Relative und absolute Risiken Das absolute Risiko einer medizinischen Intervention unterscheidet sich dabei vom relativen Risiko. Das wird an einem Beispiel klar: Angenommen, bei einem Test kann durch ein Medikament die Zahl der Erkrankungen von 10 auf 5 Fälle bei 1000 Personen reduziert werden. Relativ gesehen ist das eine Reduzierung des Krankheitsrisikos um 50 Prozent (5 von 10). Absolut gesehen sind es jedoch nur 0,5 Prozent (5 von 1000). Die erste Zahl...

Is economic consensus a good thing? No, it is not — and here’s one strong reason why: The mere existence of consensus is not a useful guide. We should ask; Does a consensus have its origins and its ground in a rational and comprehensive appraisal of substantial evidence? Has the available evidence been open to vigorous challenge, and has it met each challenge? … A consensus that lacks these origins is of little consequence precisely because it lacks these...