Tag Archives: Economics

Does one have to use mathematics to be scientific? We have good reason to suppose that the scope of relevance of mathematics is very limited indeed in them social realm. For example, it can be demonstrated that not only the poor success rate of modern economics, but also the phenomenon of modern economists repeatedly making assumptions known to be wildly false, are due to mathematical methods being employed where they do not fit …The students’ ‘complaint’...

The History of Economic Thought .[embedded content] Being myself the author of seven books on the history of economic thought, yours truly can’t but applaud Beatrice Cherrier’s plaidoyer for the importance of studying the history of economic thought. In many doctrinal historical works, there is a tendency to read history in reverse. This often leads to only presenting the theories and thinkers that have anticipated or presented what constitutes today’s...

On ethics and economics Justice is an ambiguous concept. We use it daily and constantly. But what is justice, really? What should be considered just? How do we measure justice? Is justice the same as equality and impartiality? And is there only one form of justice, or do different notions of justice coexist? These are important questions to try to shed light on and answer. Otherwise, the concept of justice risks becoming just one of many empty and abstract...

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 Abstract and unrealistic theories have increasingly been replaced by historically grounded ones.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

The ‘Nobel Prize’ in Economics is seriously flawed People have, throughout all times, tried to form an understanding of the economic contexts using economic theories. These theories both shape and are part of society and its history. In the past century, the development of economic theories has taken place at an increasingly rapid pace. Over the last fifty years, these theories have become more mathematical and abstract in their nature. This particularly...

Gunnar Myrdal’s ‘immanent critique’ of utility theory During the time period from 1925 to 1933 — when he still considered himself a ‘central-theoretician’ and a ‘pure economic theorist’ — Gunnar Myrdal wanted to apply to economic doctrines an ‘immanent method’ of criticism. His main interest was to criticize the received economic theory that had preserved structures of normative speculation built upon the concepts of utility and welfare. Many have tried to...

Why economists can’t forecast The problem of evaluating models built for forecasting is that one cannot get around invariance. There must be a stable bridge that connects the past and pres. ent with the future … To evaluate invariance its domain should be considered. In other words, one has to investigate what the list of all relevant non-negligible potential influences is. To ensure invariance, this list should be complete. This latter point was also...

Sraffian economics — an unhappy trade-off between rigour and relevance We have continually noted the tendency of Sraffians to subordinate the study of the substantive nature of economic phenomena to the requirements of logical rigor, and for Sraffians rigor equals GET (General Equilibrium Theory), the simultaneous determination of endogenous economic variables. The marriage of Sraffian economics and GET is not a promising avenue for studying past thinkers,...

The deficit lies mainstream economists knowingly tell us .[embedded content] [The interview was given to Mark Blaug in 1995. In transcript: “I think there is an element of truth in the view that the superstition that the budget must be balanced at all times [is necessary]. Once it is debunked, [it] takes away one of the bulwarks that every society must have against expenditure out of control. There must be discipline in the allocation of resources or you...

The tractability hoax in modern economics While the paternity of the theoretical apparatus underlying the new neoclassical synthesis in macro is contested, there is wide agreement that the methodological framework was largely architected by Robert Lucas … Bringing a representative agent meant foregoing the possibility to tackle inequality, redistribution and justice concerns. Was it deliberate? How much does this choice owe to tractability? What...