Lars P. Syll

Si dolce è il tormento  [embedded content] Advertisements

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What’s the use of economics? The simple question that was raised during a recent conference … was to what extent has – or should – the teaching of economics be modified in the light of the current economic crisis? The simple answer is that the economics profession is unlikely to change. Why would economists be willing to give up much of their human capital, painstakingly nurtured for over two centuries? For macroeconomists in particular, the reaction has...

La femme qui est dans mon lit  [embedded content] Advertisements

The captain of an unconquerable soul A hundred years ago, in July 1918, the unconquerable soul of one of the greatest​ men that have walked this earth was born — Nelson Mandela. This poem helped him keep​ hope alive for​ 27 years in prison. Long live his memory. [embedded content]​ Il cittadino medio 100 anni fa non credeva ci fosse alcuna possibilità di migliorare le proprie condizioni di vita. Persino in una democrazia come gli Stati Uniti la segregazione...

Using economics as a propaganda device The most serious deficiency of implicit formal theories is that the verbal language disguises the abstractness of the theory … The consequence of the fallacy of misplaced concreteness is that the theory looks too convincing to its proponents​ … He becomes​ the prisoner of his own logical model and is rendered incapable​ of seeing reality from any other standpoint … The most widespread example is provided by the...

The psychopathy of Ayn Rand Now, I don’t care to discuss the alleged complaints American Indians have against this country. I believe, with good reason, the most unsympathetic Hollywood portrayal of Indians and what they did to the white man. They had no right to a country merely because they were born here and then acted like savages. The white man did not conquer this country … Since the Indians did not have the concept of property or property rights—they...

The force from above  [embedded content] Advertisements

Interview mit Esther Duflo ZEITmagazin: Ich könnte Ihnen von ähnlichen Absurditäten aus dem deutschen Bildungswesen erzählen. Duflo: Und bestimmt nicht nur aus den Schulen. Darum haben wir unsere Methode aus den Entwicklungsländern nach Europa und in die USA exportiert. Viele Länder der EU zum Beispiel bezahlen jungen Arbeitslosen ein Training für Bewerbungsgespräche. Wir haben randomisierte Experimente gemacht: Die Arbeitslosen mit Training finden...

Regression analysis — a case of wishful thinking The impossibility of proper specification is true generally in regression analyses across the social sciences, whether we are looking at the factors affecting occupational status, voting behavior, etc. The problem is that as implied by the conditions for regression analyses to yield accurate, unbiased estimates, you need to investigate a phenomenon that has underlying mathematical regularities – and,...