I argue that economic methodologists failed the economics profession by not actively pointing out to the economics profession or to the general public that, if an economist’s primary goal was to provide policy advice to society, then the standard methodology being used by applied macroeconomists had serious problems. I see methodologists’ failure as a systemic […]
economics
According to this line of defence, all models are false but to some extent ‘approximately true’ – and approximately true models are harmless from the point of view of the realist’s aims … This argument is to a large extent confused. It is correct that there are cases in which a false assumption can indeed […]
The proposition that theoretical models are necessary for understanding our economic system does not imply that having some particular theoretical model automatically means that we understand anything useful. If one is creative in choosing the ‘right’ assumptions and reasonably clever, then one can produce all kinds of results … This potentially creates a problem that […]
There is an element of hypocrisy among DSGE advocates … Long before the advent of DSGE, microeconomic theorists demonstrated that the conditions for the derivation of aggregates from individual choices are so constraining that they cannot possibly be met in a world populated by people. Yet, never to my knowledge have DSGE advocates addressed the […]
Yours truly’s latest book has made it onto Amazon’s lists of best sellers in economics and econometrics. I am — of course — truly awed, honoured and delighted.
It is not possible to determine the scientific method that it is appropriate to employ for a given task (in a particular context) without knowing the nature of the task. And to know the nature of any scientific task it is always essential to have an insight into (i.e., to seek to determine) the nature […]
When we provide such a critique, we often hear another mantra to which many economists subscribe: ‘It takes a model to beat a model.’ On the contrary, we believe that it takes facts and observations to beat a model … If a model fails to answer the problem to which it is addressed, it should […]
Some argue that economics as a science is already pluralist and that the critique of pluralists addresses a strawman. Newly emerged research areas such as behavioral economics are often presented as examples. Yet, to assess the argument that ‘economics is already pluralist’, one has to be explicit about the dimension and degree of plurality that […]
It’s not that we like EVs more. They’re just way better now.
The post Why Electric Cars Are Taking Off appeared first on Nautilus.
According to Keynes, financial crises are a recurring feature of our economy and are linked to its fundamental financial instability: It is of the nature of organised investment markets, under the influence of purchasers largely ignorant of what they are buying and of speculators who are more concerned with forecasting the next shift of market […]