Lars P. Syll

Worst of all, when we feel pumped up with our progress, a tectonic shift can occur, like the Panic of 2008, making it seem as though our long journey has left us disappointingly close to the State of Complete Ignorance whence we began … It often takes years down the Path, but sooner or later, someone articulates the concerns that gnaw away in each of us and asks if the Assumptions are valid … It would be much healthier for all of us if we could accept our fate, recognize...

Who to blame for the inflation .[embedded content]

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Iran — eine religiöse überlackierte Kleptokratie .[embedded content]

.[embedded content] To my freedom fighting brothers and sisters in Ukraine. Never give in. Never give up. [embedded content]

On the validity of econometric inferences 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 three conditions for regression analyses to yield accurate, unbiased estimates, you need to investigate a phenomenon that has underlying mathematical regularities – and, moreover,...

.[embedded content] I dessa tider, när ljudrummet dränks i den kommersiella radions tyckmyckentrutade ordbajseri och fullständigt intetsägande skvalmusik, har man ju nästan gett upp. Men det finns ljus i mörkret! Nils Frahms musik är en meditativ örontvätt som rensar hörselgångarna från kvarvarande musikslagg. Att få lyssna till sådan musik ger sinnet ro och får hoppet att återvända. En lisa för själen.

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. — I will remember that I didn’t make the world, and it doesn’t satisfy my equations. — Though I will use models boldly to estimate value, I will not be overly impressed by mathematics. — I will never sacrifice reality for elegance without explaining why I have done so. — Nor will I give the people who use my model false comfort about its accuracy. Instead, I will make explicit its assumptions and oversights. — I understand that my work may have enormous effects on society...

Mainstream economics — a form of brain damage .[embedded content]It is difficult to understand why mainstream economists keep on using their unreal and irrelevant models! Sure, you get academic accolades and give the impression of having something deep and ‘scientific’ to say, but that should count for nothing if you’re in the truth business. As long as that kind of modelling output doesn’t come with the accompanying warning text “NB! This is model-based...