One of his theses suggests that mathematical fireworks became more important than the utility of the models themselves. Paul is the perfect person to make this claim: his work is delightful in that it is amazingly lucid and insightful with sparing use of high-level math. Try and publish some of his same seminal works today and you would have trouble - "too simple," referees would inevitable say. And yes, this resonates with me as I strive for the same simplicity in my theoretical work but sometimes wonder whether I should dress it up will a bunch of useless math. And I can't tell you how many papers I have received to referee from good journals that have pages and pages of math and proofs all to make a simple point that could have been made with one simple algebraic equation. That said, the introduction of serious math into economics has been hugely beneficial - allowing for precision and insight that would have not been there in its absence. But like anything, there can be too much of a good thing, however, it is this pushing of the boundaries, however, that enhances the profession overall. I don't think that Paul would argue for less math, just more attention to what it buys you in terms of insight and a much lower reliance on the rule of thumb that more math means better economics. In fact, I think it is more likely that the opposite is true.
Also in the NY Times, a nice article about how stimulus spending is being dwarfed by state level cuts (in this case in education), something I have talked about before. Having just returned from dropping my child off at his second grade classroom that is overstuffed with little bodies, I can relate.
2 comments:
I couldn't agree more. Even physicists know that the models only get you so far - hence the old joke about a perfectly spherical cow. Physicists can't solve the general case of the three-body problem, why on earth do economists think they can solve the six-billion body problem?
Too bad the NYTimes didn't cite how Oregon maximized the effect of the stimulus money by coming up with a balanced fiscal plan that not only made cuts in public services (arghh, some had to happen) but minimized the cuts and maximized the federal dollars by raising revenue in a targeted way (from corporations and the wealthest households).
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