SHOE Archives

Societies for the History of Economics

SHOE@YORKU.CA

Options: Use Forum View

Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
[log in to unmask] (Witold Kwasnicki)
Date:
Fri Mar 31 17:18:36 2006
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (32 lines)
----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- 
In the context of ongoing discussion I would like to quote Alfred Marshall, 
who in a letter to his friend has written: 
 "I had a growing feeling in the later years of my work that a good mathematical theorem
dealing with economic hypotheses was very unlikely to be good economics, and I went more
and more on the rules - (1) Use mathematics as a shorthand language, rather than as an
engine of inquiry. (2) Keep these till you have done. (3) Translate into English. (4) Then
illustrate by examples that are important in real life. (5) Burn the mathematics. (6) If
you can't succeed in (4), burn (3). This last I did often."
 
When I present this quote to my Polish students I add also a comment that 
the 3rd advice ought to be understand by them not only as 'transate it as a 
verbal description' but also literally 'write it in English', otherwise 
almost nobody will know results of your work. 
 
The HES discussion is made under the title 'Math and English in Economics' 
I think that looking at the course of development of economic analysis in 
the last few decades we ought to discuss that matter under the general 
title 'Math, Simulation and English in Economics'. There are growing 
branches of economic analysis using computer simulation approach as the 
main engine of research (to mention only two: ACE  'Agent-Based 
Computational Economics'  and Schumpeterian Modelling). 
 
Best wishes, 
 
Witold Kwasnicki 
Wroclaw University 
 
------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ 
For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask] 
 

ATOM RSS1 RSS2