Lars P. Syll

The poverty of fictional storytelling in statistics and econometrics  The most expedient population and data generation model to adopt is one in which the population is regarded as a realization of an infinite super population. This setup is the standard perspective in mathematical statistics, in which random variables are assumed to exist with fixed moments for an uncountable and unspecified universe of events … This perspective is tantamount to assuming a...

Sraffian economics — a critique After being tasked with editing David Ricardo’s Collected Works in 1930, Piero Sraffa, with the assistance of Maurice Dobb, published them between 1951 and 1973. This work earned him the 1961 Söderström Gold Medal from The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. For the edition, Sraffa wrote an interesting and thought-provoking introduction. Its purpose was to demonstrate that classical economists based their theory on the concept...

My problem with Michel Foucault, then, is not that he seeks to “move beyond” the welfare state, but that he actively contributed to its destruction, and that he did so in a way that was entirely in step with the neoliberal critiques of the moment. His objective was not to move towards “socialism,” but to be rid of it … In addition to the “dependency” it supposedly creates, Foucault believes that social security ultimately serves mainly the affluent. Thus, in a 1976 interview,...

Less is more — the process of elimination .[embedded content]

Why yours truly is a critical realist What properties do societies possess that might make them possible objects of knowledge for us? My strategy in developing an answer to this question will be effectively based on a pincer movement. But in deploying the pincer I shall concentrate first on the ontological question of the properties that societies possess, before shifting to the epistemological question of how these properties make them possible objects of...

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In recent times, there has been a growing interest in institutionalist trends and research within 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 Abstract and unrealistic theories have increasingly been replaced by historically grounded ones.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 become interested...

New Year’s resolution for my students Never give in. Never give up. [embedded content]

Genom att utbilda mig skulle jag få ett bättre jobb än pappa, tjäna mer pengar än vad han giorde och slippa slita ut min kropp medan jag gorde det. Helt enkelt kunna leva ett godare liv än vad han hade gjort. l en rent objektiv och materiell mening har jag också lyckats bättre med det än nästan alla andra som har gjort samma resa. En arbetargrabb som steg på tåget så fort han tagit studenten vilket bara en av tjugo med samma bakgrund som jag gjorde vid den här tiden. Hur jag...

Long holidays are nice. But sometimes, amid all the relaxation, you can feel your brain getting a bit mushy. What do you do then? Personally, I usually solve crosswords, chess problems, and the occasional mathematical puzzle to keep the grey brain cells active over Christmas and New Year… [embedded content]