Re Dick Lipsey's question on the SHOE list.
There is a later example of such concerns - Paul Romer's essay on how economic science became colonized by incompetent "mathiness":
"Neither colleagues who read working papers, nor reviewers nor journal editors, are paying attention to the maths."
Romer, P. 2015. Mathiness in the Theory of Economic Growth. American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings 2015, 105(5): 89–93
http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.p20151066
From: Societies for the History of Economics <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Leeson, Robert
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2014 10:48 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [SHOE] MARK BLAUG AND BELIEF IN MODELS
Concerns about colonisation and unbalanced development dates back (at least) to 1986:
“At a symposium on the state of economics held in 1986, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, many participants put forth the view that economics as taught in graduate school had become too divorced from real world questions.” The resulting ‘Report of the Commission on Graduate Education in Economics’ discovered that “non-academic employers generally revealed fairly deep dissatisfaction with the training of new Ph. D’s employed by them”. There was an increasing worry that the grammar of mathematics had overtaken the substance of economics. Universities were producing too many intellectually disabled Ph. D.s: “idiots savants, skilled in technique but innocent of real economic issues” (Krueger 1991, 1035-1036, 1041, 1044-1045).
Krueger, A. O. 1991. Report of the Commission on Graduate Education in Economics. Journal of Economic Literature Vol 29, No 3, September: 1035-1053.
Any earlier examples of such concerns?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Witold Kwasnicki" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Saturday, 15 November, 2014 8:13:22 AM
Subject: Re: [SHOE] MARK BLAUG AND BELIEF IN MODELS
The really big problem in using models by economists (especially
government's advisers) is that when they apply some findings flowing
from models' analysis they forget about assumptions and simplifications
being made during models building. The most famous examples in
macroeconomics is IS-LM model and so called 'Phillips Curve' (having
nothing common with original Phillips work, who was investigating
relationship between unemployment and wage rate, not, as it is commonly
presented (due to Samuelson imposition), between unemployment and
inflation).
Long story about misusing formal, mathematical approach in economic
analysis, at least for one thick volume!
Best wishes,
Witold Kwasnicki
---
Witold Kwasnicki, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Wroclaw
Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics
Institute of Economic Sciences
ul. Uniwersytecka 22/26, 50-145 Wroclaw, Poland
tel: +48 71 375 2385
http://kwasnicki.prawo.uni.wroc.pl/ [1]
http://kwasnicki.blog.pl/ [2]
W dniu 14-11-2014 23:25, Birks, Stuart napisa³(a):
> Uskali makes a good point.
>
> If you frame the issue in terms of theories being possible analogies, as several economists have suggested, the concern disappears. If you say, "He swims like a fish", you do not have to believe that he is a fish. The analogy is simply giving a representation and possible insight into how he swims. Similarly with theories, they may sometimes provide some insight or understanding of real world phenomena, but, as analogies, they cannot be considered as 'true' descriptions of the real world. Any belief that they are is misplaced.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Societies for the History of Economics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Uskali Mäki
> Sent: Saturday, 15 November 2014 10:08 a.m.
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [SHOE] MARK BLAUG AND BELIEF IN MODELS
>
> I would say one is not compelled to make a choice between use and belief, so no sharp dichotomy here. Depending on the intended or justified use of a model, and on how good the model is, one is permitted or even advised to believe some parts or aspects of the model (insofar as its relations to its target are concerned). Models are far more complex creatures than what most practicing economists or historians or methodologists of economics have been able to clearly articulate. Mark Blaug's concern is one that troubled economists of the 19th century already.
> c uskali mäki
>
> Lainaus Bruce Larson <[log in to unmask]>:
> Here is the Theil quote, which I always use on the first day of my intermediate microeconomics course: "It does require maturity to realize that models are to be used but not to be believed."
Henri Theil, *Principles of Econometrics* (1971), p. vi Bruce Larson University of North Carolina at Asheville
On Thu, Nov 13, 2014 at 11:21 PM, David Levy <[log in to unmask]> wrote: There is a "joke" in Henri Theil's Principles that models are to be used not believed. Around page 7 or so ... My copies are at the office but maybe I can find this on the web. I looked into years ago ... but let me not rely on my memory. David
On Thu, Nov 13, 2014 at 7:08 PM, Richard Lipsey <[log in to unmask]> wrote: My late good friend, Mark Baugh, was wont to say that the problem with economists when they came to talk about the real world was the they believed their own models. I heard him say something like that many times but never saw it in print, although I suspect he did commit it to print somewhere in his
voluminous writings. I am writing an essay that amply illustrates Mark's comment and would like to quote him on the opening page. I would be most grateful if anyone could help we with a reference to where Mark made that comment, or something similar, in print?
Richard Lipsey --
David M. Levy Professor of Economics George Mason University Fairfax VA 22030 703-993-2319
--
--
Uskali Mäki
Academy Professor
TINT Centre of Excellence in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences
Department of Political and Economic Studies University of Helsinki
http://www.helsinki.fi/tint [3] http://www.helsinki.fi/tint/maki [4]
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[2] http://kwasnicki.blog.pl/
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[4] http://www.helsinki.fi/tint/maki
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