How Economists Model the World Into Numbers PDF Download

Author: Marcel Boumans
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415346214
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
Economics is dominated by model building, therefore a comprehension of how such models work is vital to understanding the discipline. This book provides a critical analysis of the economist's favourite tool, and as such will be an enlightening read for some, and an intriguing one for others.

Author: Arndt Christiansen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The dominance of model-building in modern economics is far from a new finding. Marcel Boumans intends to separate himself from previous analyses by pursuing a specific focus, namely the development of a «separate methodology of models». To achieve this goal he focusses on the contributions by Jan Tinbergen, Ragnar Frisch, Trygve Haavelmo, Tjalling C. Koopmans, Herbert A. Simon, John von Neumann, Milton Friedman, Lawrence Klein, Robert E. Lucas, Finn E. Kydland, Edward C. Prescott and Irving Fisher in particular. Despite this selectivity How Economists Model the World into Numbers provides a sound reconstruction of specific methodological aspects of macroeconometric modelling. A particular strength lies in his successive treatment of the contributions of leading researchers. These are, all in all, combined with insights from methodological literature in a felicitous manner.

Author: Marcel Boumans
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134280661
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 438

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Book Description
Economics is dominated by model building, therefore a comprehension of how such models work is vital to understanding the discipline. This book provides a critical analysis of the economist's favourite tool, and as such will be an enlightening read for some, and an intriguing one for others.

Author: Marcel Boumans
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113428067X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
Economics is dominated by model building, therefore a comprehension of how such models work is vital to understanding the discipline. This book provides a critical analysis of the economist's favourite tool, and as such will be an enlightening read for some, and an intriguing one for others.

Author: Marcel J. Boumans
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The article discusses economic models as instruments of measuring economic phenomena from obtainable numerical facts; as in the theory of measurement where measurement is the mapping of a property of the empirical world into sets of numbers. Contributions of notable people such as Ragnar Frisch and Jan Tinbergen in macroeconomics and econometrics with focus on the business-cycle phenomena are likewise discussed. In addition, Galileo's model of intelligibility based on Archimedean simple mechanisms is also explained.

Author: Mary S. Morgan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139560417
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
During the last two centuries, the way economic science is done has changed radically: it has become a social science based on mathematical models in place of words. This book describes and analyses that change - both historically and philosophically - using a series of case studies to illuminate the nature and the implications of these changes. It is not a technical book; it is written for the intelligent person who wants to understand how economics works from the inside out. This book will be of interest to economists and science studies scholars (historians, sociologists and philosophers of science). But it also aims at a wider readership in the public intellectual sphere, building on the current interest in all things economic and on the recent failure of the so-called economic model, which has shaped our beliefs and the world we live in.

Author: Steven E. Rhoads
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521317641
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
This book explains and assesses the ways in which micro, welfare and benefit-cost economists view the world of public policy. In general terms, microeconomic concepts and models can be seen to appear regularly in the work of political scientists, sociologists and psychologists. As a consequence, these and related concepts and models have now had sufficient time to influence strongly and to extend the range of policy options available to government departments. The central focus of this book is the 'cross-over' from economic modelling to policy implementation, which remains obscure and uncertain. The author outlines the importance of a wider knowledge of microeconomics for improving the effects and orientation of public policy. He also provides a critique of some basic economic assumptions, notably the 'consumer sovereignty principle'. Within this context the reader is in a better position to understand the 'marvellous insights and troubling blindnesses' of economists where often what is controversial politically is not so controversial among economists.

Author: Harro Maas
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135122172
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
Ever since the inception of economics over two hundred years ago, the tools at the discipline’s disposal have grown more and more more sophisticated. This book provides a historical introduction to the methodology of economics through the eyes of economists. The story begins with John Stuart Mill's seminal essay from 1836 on the definition and method of political economy, which is then followed by an examination of how the actual practices of economists changed over time to such an extent that they not only altered their methods of enquiry, but also their self-perception as economists. Beginning as intellectuals and journalists operating to a large extent in the public sphere, they then transformed into experts who developed their tools of research increasingly behind the scenes. No longer did they try to influence policy agendas through public discourse; rather they targeted policymakers directly and with instruments that showed them as independent and objective policy advisors, the tools of the trade changing all the while. In order to shed light on this evolution of economic methodology, this book takes carefully selected snapshots from the discipline’s history. It tracks the process of development through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, analysing the growth of empirical and mathematical modelling. It also looks at the emergence of the experiment in economics, in addition to the similarities and differences between modelling and experimentation. This book will be relevant reading for students and academics in the fields of economic methodology, history of economics, and history and philosophy of the social sciences.

Author: Ricardo F. Crespo
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400755643
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 115

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Book Description
The aim of the book is to argue for the restoration of theoretical and practical reason to economics. It presents Nancy Cartwright and Amartya Sen’s ideas as cases of this restoration and sees Aristotle as an influence on their thought. It looks at how we can use these ideas to develop a valuable understanding of practical reason for solving concrete problems in science and society. Cartwright’s capacities are real causes of events. Sen’s capabilities are the human person’s freedoms or possibilities. They relate these concepts to Aristotelian concepts. This suggests that these concepts can be combined. Sen’s capabilities are Cartwright’s capacities in the human realm; capabilities are real causes of events in economic life. Institutions allow us to deliberate on and guide our decisions about capabilities, through the use of practical reason. Institutions thus embody practical reason and infuse certain predictability into economic action. The book presents a case study: the UNDP’s HDI.​

Author: Doctor Lorenzo Fioramonti
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN: 1780322704
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
Numbers dominate global politics and, as a result, our everyday lives. Credit ratings steer financial markets and can make or break the future of entire nations. GDP drives our economies. Stock market indices flood our media and national debates. Statistical calculations define how we deal with climate change, poverty and sustainability. But what is behind these numbers? In How Numbers Rule the World, Lorenzo Fioramonti reveals the hidden agendas underpinning the use of statistics and those who control them. Most worryingly, he shows how numbers have been used as a means to reinforce the grip of markets on our social and political life, curtailing public participation and rational debate. An innovative and timely exposé of the politics, power and contestation of numbers.