Lars P. Syll

It is time to reverse the prevailing notion that religious commitment is intrinsically deserving of respect, and that it should be handled with kid gloves and protected by custom and in some cases law against criticism and ridicule. It is time to refuse to tip-toe around people who claim respect, consideration, special treatment, or any other kind of immunity, on the grounds that they have a religious faith, as if having faith were a privilege-endowing virtue, as if it were...

Causal effects are comparisons of what did happen with what would have happened if people had received different treatments. Randomized treatment assignment has reduced this problem to the minor technical problem of drawing an inference about a finite population of people on the basis of a probability sample from that population. Expressed differently, if we design an experiment so that the actual world is a random draw from a set of possible worlds, then we can draw...

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The History of Economic Thought .[embedded content] Being myself the author of seven books on the history of economic thought, yours truly can’t but applaud Beatrice Cherrier’s plaidoyer for the importance of studying the history of economic thought. In many doctrinal historical works, there is a tendency to read history in reverse. This often leads to only presenting the theories and thinkers that have anticipated or presented what constitutes today’s...

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On ethics and economics Justice is an ambiguous concept. We use it daily and constantly. But what is justice, really? What should be considered just? How do we measure justice? Is justice the same as equality and impartiality? And is there only one form of justice, or do different notions of justice coexist? These are important questions to try to shed light on and answer. Otherwise, the concept of justice risks becoming just one of many empty and abstract...

In recent times, there has been a growing interest in institutionalist trends and research within the field of economics. Traditional explanations and analyses have seemed to have little or no value. Abstract and unrealistic theories have increasingly been replaced by historically grounded ones. Institutional and structural elements in the economy are highlighted, replacing overly short-term and model-based variables. It is, therefore, not surprising that economists have...

The ‘Nobel Prize’ in Economics is seriously flawed People have, throughout all times, tried to form an understanding of the economic contexts using economic theories. These theories both shape and are part of society and its history. In the past century, the development of economic theories has taken place at an increasingly rapid pace. Over the last fifty years, these theories have become more mathematical and abstract in their nature. This particularly...

Quran burnings in Sweden and Rule of Law This week, yet another Quran was burned in Stockholm, Sweden. As before, the criticism is mostly directly aimed at the Swedish government. What authoritarian regimes seem to fail to understand is that in Sweden, it is the police that makes decisions regarding permits, and Sweden has a constitutionally protected freedom of speech. Quran burnings are both distasteful and contribute to an already significant...

Gunnar Myrdal’s ‘immanent critique’ of utility theory During the time period from 1925 to 1933 — when he still considered himself a ‘central-theoretician’ and a ‘pure economic theorist’ — Gunnar Myrdal wanted to apply to economic doctrines an ‘immanent method’ of criticism. His main interest was to criticize the received economic theory that had preserved structures of normative speculation built upon the concepts of utility and welfare. Many have tried to...