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Category Archives: Economic Theory
Economic Modelling and Artificial Intelligence: Is Economic Reasoning Always Based on a “Hidden” Model?
There’s a trope one hears from economists all too often when one discusses the usefulness (or uselessness) of models. The argument usually runs like this: the person questioning the use of models says, for example, that all the useful predictions … Continue reading
Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy
9 Comments
Finance Panglossian: A Eulogy to Lawrence Henry Summers
Larry Summers has dropped out of the race for Fed chair — and the stock market has rallied! The irony should be noted, of course, because Summers has come to exemplify the Panglossian Wall Street liberal of the Clinton era … Continue reading
Posted in Economic Theory, Media/Journalism
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Long Live Hydraulic Keynesianism: Krugman on Godley and Vernengo on Krugman
The other day I commented on a piece that was run in the NYT on Wynne Godley and other Levy Institute scholars. Since then Paul Krugman has weighed in on the debate and Matias Vernengo has responded. Even though I’ve … Continue reading
Posted in Economic Theory
18 Comments
The Model that Maketh the Man? Wynne Godley in the NYT
The New York Times recently ran an article appraising the work of Wynne Godley and his colleagues and followers. This is fantastic. It is great to see this approach to economics, which the NYT rightly notes predicted the 2008 crash, … Continue reading
Posted in Economic Theory, Media/Journalism
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Holey Models: A Final Response to Matheus Grasselli
Matheus Grasselli has responded to some of my previous posts (in the comments on this post) and some comments I made on the Facebook Young INET page. His points were as I thought they would be — indeed, I have … Continue reading
Probabilities: Keynesian Legal Versus Bayesian Mathematical
Lars Syll has (once again) directed me to a fascinating piece, this time by John Kay. Kay starts the piece by noting that in a recent legal case in Britain the judge was asked to define the term “beyond reasonable … Continue reading
Posted in Economic Theory, Statistics and Probability
2 Comments
Marginalist Microeconomics as Authoritarian Poison
“The world itself is the will to power — and nothing else! And you yourself are the will to power — and nothing else!” – Friedrich Nietzsche Lars Syll has directed me to an interesting post by Ole Rogeberg. It … Continue reading
Posted in Economic Theory
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Clarity and Obfuscation in the Use of Mathematics for Economic Reasoning
The Tony Lawson paper discussed on this blog the other day seems already to have begun to cause ripples in the heterodox community. The Real World Economics Review Blog has run a piece by Lars Syll on the paper and … Continue reading
Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy
8 Comments
Playing Humpty Dumpty: More on the Definition of “Balance of Payments Crisis”
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.” My previous piece on the Kaldorians and their insistence on misusing well-established economic … Continue reading
Posted in Economic Theory
11 Comments
Can a Country Without a Currency Have a Currency Crisis?
It is often the case that whole debates rest on a misunderstanding or lack of clarity over the definition of key terms. Take the ongoing debates between the group I label as the Kaldorians and the Modern Monetary Theorists (MMTers) … Continue reading
Posted in Economic Theory
70 Comments
Fixing the Economists 