Lars P. Syll

Life Among the Econ A comparison of status relationships in the different “fields” shows a definite common pattern. The dominant feature, which makes status relations among the Econ of unique interest to the serious student, is the way that status is tied to the manufacture of certain types of implements called “modls.” The status of the adult male is determined by his skill at making the “modl” of his “field.” The facts (a) that the Econ are highly status-motivated, (b) that status is...

 [embedded content] Though I speak with the tongues of angels, If I have not love… My words would resound with but a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophesy… And understand all mysteries… and all knowledge… And though I have all faith So that I could remove mountains, If I have not love… I am nothing.

Frank Ackerman on general equilibrium theory General equilibrium is fundamental to economics on a more normative level as well. A story about Adam Smith, the invisible hand, and the merits of markets pervades introductory textbooks, classroom teaching, and contemporary political discourse. The intellectual foundation of this story rests on general equilibrium, not on the latest mathematical excursions. If the foundation of everyone’s favourite economics story is now known to be unsound —...

 [embedded content] In loving memory of Kristina Syll

The biggest mistake in the history of macroeconomic thought The Keynesian economics of the General Theory is static. It purports to explain how employment, GDP and the interest rate are determined at one weekly meeting, taking the price level as fixed. Modern macroeconomics is dynamic. It purports to explain how employment, GDP, the interest rate and the price level are determined in a sequence of weekly meetings. To knit together the temporary one-week Keynesian equilibria, Samuelson, in...

Whatever you do for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine This one is for you — all you brothers and sisters struggling to survive in civil wars or forced to flee your homes and risking your lives on your way to my country or other countries in Europe. [embedded content] Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?...

The euro — a Reaganomics wet dream There are obviously still a lot of economists out there who do not accept the conventional wisdom that the euro is a bad idea. However, there seems to be some rather basic facts about optimal currency areas that all economists would perhaps be wise to consider … The idea that the euro has “failed” is dangerously naive. The euro is doing exactly what its progenitor – and the wealthy 1%-ers who adopted it – predicted and planned for it to do. That...

Why ‘Economics and Reality’ is on my top 10 list For a good many years, Tony Lawson has been urging economists to pay attention to their ontological presuppositions. Economists have not paid much attention, perhaps because few of us know what “ontology” means. This branch of philosophy stresses the need to “grasp the nature of the reality” that is the object of study – and to adapt one’s methods of inquiry to it. Economics, it might be argued, has gotten this backwards. We have imposed our...

Mångkulturalism — ett hot mot jämställdheten Är mångkulturalismen ett hot mot jämställdheten? Det beror på hur majoritetssamhället agerar. Men om tassandet kring frågan fortsätter så är risken stor att svaret blir ja. Med stort mod och hårt arbete har Sveriges kvinnor vunnit en sexuell frihet våra förmödrar bara kunde drömma om … Men det här är inte en kvinnofråga. Det ingår om Sverige ska förbli en västerländsk liberal demokrati – det bästa sätt att leva ihop som människan hittills kommit...

Why Africa is so poor A few years ago, two economics professors, Quamrul Ashraf and Oded Galor, published a paper, “The ‘Out of Africa’ Hypothesis, Human Genetic Diversity, and Comparative Economic Development,” that drew inferences about poverty and genetics based on a statistical pattern … When the paper by Ashraf and Galor came out, I criticized it from a statistical perspective, questioning what I considered its overreach in making counterfactual causal claims … I argued (and continue...