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Category Archives: Economic Theory
Misuse of Data Part Deux: Redux
Okay, so there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding regarding my previous post on Catalán’s misuse of data. Some of this is likely squirming but some may be due to my own presentation. So, let’s run through this in order … Continue reading
Posted in Economic Theory
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Animism and Monetarist Thinking: The Inflation in the US in the 1970s
In some tribes studied by anthropologists it was found that members believed that animals and objects, rather than human beings, were responsible for pregnancies. Pregnant women were asked by other members of the tribe what object or animal they had … Continue reading
Posted in Economic History, Economic Theory
18 Comments
On the Misuse of Data and Confirmation Bias
When I was doing my undergraduate in journalism I became interested in economic reporting and commentary. One of the things that struck me was the inability of respected opinion-makers to handle data; a disease that Dean Baker documents daily on … Continue reading
Posted in Economic Theory, Psychology
14 Comments
Why Kant’s and Mises’ Studies of Man Were Based on a Logical Contradiction
While I do not really want to deal with the Austrians on this blog — let alone Mises who, together with Rothbard, was the most muddled and mediocre of the school — nevertheless I think it might be worthwhile making … Continue reading
Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy
4 Comments
Kant and His Categories Versus Mises and His Praxeology
You won’t see me dealing with the Austrian School of economics much on this blog. I wrote a long essay on them before and I think it says almost as much as needs to be said; namely, that the Austrians … Continue reading
Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy
17 Comments
Infinite Time: Why the Long-Run in Economics is Metaphysics
Matias Vernengo has a very interesting post on the long-run and the short-run in economics. As he says, the long-run and short-run are just thought experiments (he calls them “methodological tools”). So, the long-run is an imagined period when all … Continue reading
Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy
2 Comments
Is Paul Krugman the Left’s Milton Friedman and Should We Argue With Him?
In response to my previous post on Paul Krugman I got two negative responses; they are the two negative responses I always get when I criticise Krugman. One is from what I call the Krugtrons. These are the people who … Continue reading
Posted in Economic Theory, Politics
4 Comments
Round and Round We Go: Krugman-Magoo Strikes Again!
Here we go again. Paul Krugman has made another, erm, innovative discovery. Apparently, Krugman has just discovered that when government deficits rise interest rates may not rise at all, indeed there may be a tendency for them to fall. Think … Continue reading
Posted in Economic Theory, Media/Journalism
19 Comments
Even the Statisticians Are Highly Dubious of Applying Their Methods in Economics!
Lars Syll just ran a rather amusing quote from a handbook on mathematical statistics in which the author — a mathematical statistician — lays out all the cop-out arguments used by those who apply these methods in a dubious manner … Continue reading
Posted in Economic Theory, Philosophy
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Did Capitalism Cause the Irish Famine?
Nathan Cedric Tankus ran a piece yesterday on Naked Capitalism about Karl Marx’s interpretation of the Irish famine in his Das Kapital. The theory that Tankus is referring to is laid out in Chapter 25 of the book. The whole … Continue reading
Posted in Economic History, Economic Theory
5 Comments
Fixing the Economists 