Thursday , November 21 2024
Home / Real-World Economics Review / On the irrelevance of economics

On the irrelevance of economics

Summary:
From Lars Syll I believe that as an economic theorist, I have very little to say about the real world and that there are very few models in economic theory that can be used to provide serious advice. However, economic theory has real effects. I cannot ignore the fact that our work as teachers and researchers influences students’ minds and does so in a way with which I am not comfortable. Can we find a way to be relevant without being charlatans? As economic theorists, we organize our thoughts using what we call models. The word “model” sounds more scientific than “fable” or “fairy tale” although I do not see much difference between them. The author of a fable draws a parallel to a situation in real life. He has some moral he wishes to impart to the reader … Being something between

Topics:
Lars Pålsson Syll considers the following as important:

This could be interesting, too:

John Quiggin writes Trump’s dictatorship is a fait accompli

Peter Radford writes Election: Take Four

Merijn T. Knibbe writes Employment growth in Europe. Stark differences.

Merijn T. Knibbe writes In Greece, gross fixed investment still is at a pre-industrial level.

from Lars Syll

I believe that as an economic theorist, I have very little to say about the real world and that there are very few models in economic theory that can be used to provide serious advice. However, economic theory has real effects. I cannot ignore the fact that our work as teachers and researchers influences students’ minds and does so in a way with which I am not comfortable. Can we find a way to be relevant without being charlatans?

On the irrelevance of economicsAs economic theorists, we organize our thoughts using what we call models.
The word “model” sounds more scientific than “fable” or “fairy tale” although I do not see much difference between them. The author of a fable draws a parallel to a situation in real life. He has some moral he wishes to impart to the reader … Being something between fantasy and reality, a fable is free of extraneous details and annoying diversions …

We do exactly the same thing in economic theory … We perform thought exercises that are only loosely connected to reality and that have been stripped of most of their real-life characteristics.

Ariel Rubinstein

Lars Pålsson Syll
Professor at Malmö University. Primary research interest - the philosophy, history and methodology of economics.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *