設萬維讀者為首頁 廣告服務 聯繫我們 關於萬維
簡體 繁體 手機版
分類廣告
版主:丁丁家長
萬維讀者網 > 海 二 代 > 帖子
Economics: Too hard or too easy
送交者: jingchen 2024年08月31日08:44:33 於 [海 二 代] 發送悄悄話

Economics: Too hard or too easy

 

This is a passage about Keynes from The Worldly Philosophers. My comment follows.

 

By 1935 it was already a brilliantly established career. The book on Indian Currency and Finance had been a tour de force, albeit a small one; The Economic Consequences of the Peace had made an éclat; and the Treatise on Probability was an equal triumph, although far more specialized. An amusing incident in regard to this last book: Keynes was having dinner with Max Planck, the mathematical genius who was responsible for the development of quantum mechanics, one of the more bewildering achievements of the human mind. Planck turned to Keynes and told him that he had once considered going into economics himself. But he had decided against it—it was too hard. Keynes repeated the story with relish to a friend back at Cambridge. “Why, that’s odd,” said the friend. “Bertrand Russell was telling me just the other day that he’d also thought about going into economics. But he decided it was too easy.” (145)

 

When Russell called economics too easy, he might think like a mathematical economist. Build a mathematical model from some arbitrary assumptions, something like Arrow-Debreu. Then call any real world phenomenon not consistent with the mathematical model as imperfection.

 

When Planck called economics too hard, he might think as a physicist. Build a mathematical model from fundamental physical laws.  The model has to be consistent with reality. This is hard. This is what we have achieved.

 


0%(0)
0%(0)
標 題 (必選項):
內 容 (選填項):
實用資訊
回國機票$360起 | 商務艙省$200 | 全球最佳航空公司出爐:海航獲五星
海外華人福利!在線看陳建斌《三叉戟》熱血歸回 豪情築夢 高清免費看 無地區限制
一周點擊熱帖 更多>>
一周回復熱帖
歷史上的今天:回復熱帖
2021: 熱門話題:媽媽們都是007