Very abstruse math. I showed one such article to a friend who is a mathematician, and he could not make any sense of it.
And it's not just the math: it's the marriage of impenetrable equations with simple minded models of human behavior. But, no doubt, Sabri can tell us more about the math. Joanna ----- Original Message ----- What kind of math must be used -- differential equations & complex integration, or wil a few linear equations and a couple probability calculations do? Carrol -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jim Devine Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 5:12 PM To: Progressive Economics Subject: Re: [Pen-l]Neoclassical Economics and the Foreclosing of Dissent - The Inner Death of a Social Science that's a good article, but it misses the worship of mathematics. NC economics is seen as "scientific" because it is mathematical ("math is the language of economics"). The use of math is the economist's white lab coat. For example, there was a debate between Jamie Galbraith and Paul Krugman in Bob Kuttner's magazine about 10 years ago. PK interpreted Galbraith's critique as involving a rejection of math, even though that wasn't what JG was saying at all. The hierarchy of economic journals and department that Pilkington talks about is bolstered by the way in which the "top" journals require the use of math. A lot of the math is unnecessary: a typical article by Gary Becker, for example, has a very simple point that need not be explained in math. Of course, it's more than math per se. The only acceptable "models" are equilibrium ones (with unique and stable equilibria). Qualitative analysis, which should be complementary to quantitative analysis, is discouraged. For my take on the sociology of the economics profession, see http://myweb.lmu.edu/jdevine/JD-2002-AutisticEcon.pdf > http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/06/philip-pilkington-neoclassical-econom ics-and-the-foreclosing-of-dissent-the-inner-death-of-a-social-science.html -- Jim Devine / If you're going to support the lesser of two evils, you should at least know the nature of that evil. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
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