Tag Archives: economics and math

Many mainstream economists have the idea that because heterodox people — like yours truly — often criticize the application of mathematics in economics, we are critical of math per se. This is totally unfounded and ridiculous. I do not know how many times I have been asked to answer this straw-man objection to heterodox economics.... There is another issue in the use of math with respect to economics. That is translating what a model says and implies for policy formulation.For example, do...

Algorithms are opinions embedded in code. It’s really different from what you think most people think of algorithms. They think algorithms are objective and true and scientific. That’s a marketing trick. It’s also a marketing trick to intimidate you with algorithms, to make you trust and fear algorithms because you trust and fear mathematics. A lot can go wrong when we put blind faith in big data. Naked CapitalismData Scientist Cathy O’Neil: “Algorithms Are Opinions Embedded in Code” Cathy...