Not sure I convinced my first years that the market for laptops is better characterised as having flexible prices but now it is time for this...
Cambridge Realist Workshop, Monday, Oct 21,
@Cambridge_Uni
#CSOG #Ontolology
Cambridge Realist Workshop, Monday, Oct 21,
@Cambridge_Uni
#CSOG #Ontolology
@Cambridge_Uni I definitely do with a glass of wine tonight, @jana_bacevic @YannisDafermos @ImkoTjado?
We’re off! The title of this talk has two reasons: 1- something is still wrong w/ economics; 2- what has been done around ‘rethinking economics’ isn’t enough. Main problem: people under the name of heteredox, alternative, radical econ didn’t move away from mathematical modelling.
We keep saying: keep the mathematical modelling but add the other things. However, the emphasis on mathematical modelling is at odds with adding other things (not sure I got this right!). It is like: let’s society to flourish but keep racism, sexism and so on. 😳
Yes, Tony has been provocative!
The issue: we need to know nature of the material and structure we are looking at to then analyse it. This is ontology. The tool & methods of analysis should be tailored to the nature of the material we are studying. You can not pick a ‘hammer’ to cut the grass! (We know that!!)
Economists start w/ mathematical modelling (method) for all the analyses. We don’t start with looking at the nature of ‘object’, we start w/ the method (a priori). We know the method in advance, without even asking an question, or the nature of thing we’re studying. No ontology.
We add dummy variable, we tweak here and there but we never challenge the art of modelling.
Social reality is abt merging, combining, interacting. Mathematical modelling doesn’t allow this. You can’t add key parts at the end of the process. It’s like “baking a cake, leave the eggs out & when the cake is ready, you add the eggs!” Tony’s analogies are really smth tonight!
Mathematical modelling gets in way of doing ontology - like Keynes, Hayek and Marx did, for example. No discussion about method and, therefore, we are in a situation where there is a mismatch between method and social reality.
