Lars P. Syll

Göte Kildén In Memoriam En av den svenska arbetarrörelsens stora kämpar, Göte Kildén, har gått ur tiden. Göte var i slutet på 1960-talet med och grundade den svenska sektionen av Fjärde Internationalen och var partiordförande i Socialistiska Partiet fram till 1991. I tjugofem år arbetade han  på Volvo Lastvagnar och ledde facklig opposition inom Metall.  Vila i frid min vän. [embedded content]

The misuse of mathematics in economics Many American undergraduates in Economics interested in doing a Ph.D. are surprised to learn that the first year of an Econ Ph.D. feels much more like entering a Ph.D. in solving mathematical models by hand than it does with learning economics. Typically, there is very little reading or writing involved, but loads and loads of fast algebra is required. Why is it like this? … One reason to use math is that it is...

DSGE models — a macroeconomic dead end Both approaches to DSGE macroeconometrics (VAR and Bayesian) have evident vulnerabilities, which substantially derive from how parameters are handled in the technique. In brief, parameters from formally elegant models are calibrated in order to obtain simulated values that reproduce some stylized fact and/or some empirical data distribution, thus relating the underlying theoretical model and the observational...

.[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? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Economists — people biased toward overconfidence Now consider what happened in November 2007. It was just one month before the Great Recession officially began … Economists in the Survey of Professional Forecasters, a quarterly poll put out by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, nevertheless foresaw a recession as relatively unlikely. Instead, they expected the economy to grow at a just slightly below average rate of 2.4 percent in 2008 … This...

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Östra kyrkogården i Lund är en plats som alltid betytt mycket för mig. Hit har jag kommit många gånger för att söka tröst och vila för min själ. Tre av de människor jag älskat mest i mitt liv ligger begravda här — min älskade Kristina, min bror Peter, och min vän Bengt. [embedded content]

An easy one this week: At a small economics conference, a photographer wants to line up nine participants for a photo. Two of them — Robert and Milton — insist on standing next to each other. How many different arrangements (lineups) are possible?

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