Lars P. Syll

The ‘journal game’ Many of the submissions do  not appear to be written in order to further economic knowledge. Whilst I fully understand the pressure on authors, particularly young academics, it is still disheartening that so many economists seem to be playing the ‘journal game’, i.e. producing variations on a theme that are uninteresting and which do not enlighten. John Hey (Managing Editor of The Economic Journal) Sad to say, if anything, things have gotten even worse since Hey wrote...

‘Observation is theory-laden’ — fashionable philosophical rubbish Now our slogan is that observation is theory-laden … The slogan cannot be literally true. If anything is ‘theory- laden’ it cannot be observation but rather statements made on the basis of observation. Observation is simply an act that humans and other creatures perform, a special kind of event or process occurring in the nervous systems of humans and other creatures. How can an act or event or process be ‘theory-laden’? It...

‘New Keynesianism’ — little new and nothing Keynesian Not that long ago, Paul Krugman had a post up on his blog discussing ‘New Keynesian’ macroeconomics and the definition of necoclassical economics: Most of what I and many others do is sorta-kinda neoclassical because it takes the maximization-and-equilibrium world as a starting point or baseline, which is then modified — but not too much — in the direction of realism … New Keynesian models are intertemporal maximization modified with...

 [embedded content] In loving memory of Kristina, beloved wife and mother of David and Tora. People say time heals all wounds. I wish that was true. But some wounds never heal — you just learn to live with the scars.

Why science necessarily involves a logical fallacy In science we standardly use a logically non-valid inference — the fallacy of affirming the consequent — of the following form: (1) p => q (2) q ————- p or, in instantiated form (1) ∀x (Gx => Px) (2) Pa ———— Ga Although logically invalid, it is nonetheless a kind of inference — abduction — that may be strongly warranted and truth-producing. Following the general pattern ‘Evidence  =>  Explanation  =>  Inference’ we infer...

Nationalekonomiska föreningens årsmöte 2016  [embedded content]

The most important book in the history of economics [embedded content]

 [embedded content] Covers are as a rule worse than the original. But there are exceptions — and this is certainly one of them. Annie Lennox — absolutely fabulous!

Playing the blame game  [embedded content] David Silvester, who resigned from the Conservative Party over David Cameron’s same-sex marriage policy, has said gay marriage is to blame for Britain’s recent spell of bad weather in a letter to The Henley Standard. He wrote: “Since the passage of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act, the nation has been beset by serious storms and floods.” Huffington Post Thank God for all these intelligent and unprejudiced conservative politicians …...

What mainstream economists are embarrassed to admit The true state of affairs is almost opposite of what Friedman makes it out to be when he ventures the opinion that “different predictions about the importance of so-called ‘economies of scale’ account very largely for divergent views about the desirability or necessity of detailed government regulation of industry and even of socialism rather than private enterprises.” Was there ever an economist who came to believe in either socialism or...