Monthly Archives: September 2013

What Will The Conventional Wisdom in Economics Be After 2008?

Posted on September 30, 2013 by

I am currently rereading JK Galbraith’s The Affluent Society. It was one of the first books on economics that I ever read and I must say that it is well worth a reread, as there is much in it that … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Theory, Psychology | 1 Comment

Models, Myths and Underpants Gnomes: Should Economics Be Dominated By Modelling?

Posted on September 29, 2013 by

In the latest issue of the Real World Economics Review Gustavo Marqués has an interesting paper entitled A Plea for Reorienting Philosophical Attention From Models to Applied Economics. In the paper Marqués examines some of the philosophical justifications that have been … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy | 3 Comments

Metaphor and Meaning: What is a Downward-Sloping Demand Curve?

Posted on September 27, 2013 by

All too often a debate, or what sometimes passes for one, is due to one side not knowing the definition of terms. There are many reasons for this — sometimes, for example, people are just ignorant — but one reason … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy | Leave a comment

Nancy Cartwright’s Defense of and Attack on Economic Modelling

Posted on September 26, 2013 by

Recently I thought it might be interesting to give the other side in the modelling debate a chance. Frankly, I have not found the debates online to be particularly stimulating or interesting, so I thought I’d go to what is … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy | 2 Comments

How Does QE Work and What Does It Really Do?

Posted on September 25, 2013 by

After my previous post on the QE taper there was some discussion on the INET YSI Commons Facebook page about the QE programs. I think it might be constructive to sum up what was there discussed as it provides a … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Policy, Market Analysis | 38 Comments

The Fed’s QE Taper: Downsides and Upsides

Posted on September 23, 2013 by

Izabella Kaminska over at FT Alphaville recently ran an interesting piece on QE. Her main argument for QE was that it attempted to put the squeeze on rich folks and that might not be bad for an unbalanced economy. Her … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Policy, Market Analysis | 1 Comment

How Do Stock-Flow Relations Work in Economics and Are They Inappropriate for Price Dynamics?

Posted on September 21, 2013 by

The other day I did a post on the work of Katharina Pistor and included some very broad details of something related that I’m working on. Despite me saying clearly and multiple times in the piece that I was massively … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Theory, Market Analysis, Toward a General Theory of Pricing | 5 Comments