Title
The Assumptions Economists Make / Jonathan Schlefer.
ISBN
9780674065529
Published
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2012]
Copyright
©2012
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (384 p.)
Other Standard Identifiers
10.4159/harvard.9780674065529 doi
Call Number
HB171 .S376 2012
Summary
Economists make confident assertions in op-ed columns and on cable news-so why are their explanations often at odds with equally confident assertions from other economists? And why are all economic predictions so rarely borne out? Harnessing his frustration with these contradictions, Jonathan Schlefer set out to investigate how economists arrive at their opinions. While economists cloak their views in the aura of science, what they actually do is make assumptions about the world, use those assumptions to build imaginary economies (known as models), and from those models generate conclusions. Their models can be useful or dangerous, and it is surprisingly difficult to tell which is which. Schlefer arms us with an understanding of rival assumptions and models reaching back to Adam Smith and forward to cutting-edge theorists today. Although abstract, mathematical thinking characterizes economists' work, Schlefer reminds us that economists are unavoidably human. They fall prey to fads and enthusiasms and subscribe to ideologies that shape their assumptions, sometimes in problematic ways.Schlefer takes up current controversies such as income inequality and the financial crisis, for which he holds economists in large part accountable. Although theorists won international acclaim for creating models that demonstrated the inherent instability of markets, ostensibly practical economists ignored those accepted theories and instead relied on their blind faith in the invisible hand of unregulated enterprise. Schlefer explains how the politics of economics allowed them to do so. The Assumptions Economists Make renders the behavior of economists much more comprehensible, if not less irrational.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)
Frontmatter
Contents
A Personal Note
One. The Metaphor of the Invisible Hand
Two. What Do Economists Do?
Three. In Search of a Model
Four. Economics When Society Matters
Five. Chasing a Chimera
Six. Utopia
Seven. This Imperfect World
Eight. Entering the Realm of Production
Nine. What Caused Income Inequality?
Ten. Understanding an Uncertain World
Eleven. In the Long Run
Twelve. In the Short Run
Thirteen. The Puzzle of the Golden Age of Capitalism
Fourteen. Economies in Crisis
Fifteen. Thinking about Economies
Notes
References
Index
