From Logical Rigor to Hyper Formalism

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From Logical Rigor to Hyper Formalism

• Peter Boettke
• Econ 881/Spring 2005
• 31 February

2
What Went Wrong with Economics

• Economics and the Natural Sciences
• Clocks, Engines, Computers
• Mirowski, p. 9
• Cyborg economists vs. Neoclassical economist,
  Mirowski, p. 21-22
• Uses and Misuses of Equilibrium Constructs
• Foil or Imaginary Construction
• Description or As If
• Benchmark or Normative

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Why the Emphasis on Equilibrium?

• Notion of Science
• Newtonian
• Reality Puzzle
• Self-regulation
• Self-interested behavior gt social order
• Interconnectedness

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Matrix of Social Explanation
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Economics and Social Order
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From the Literary Vagueness of political economic
and economic sociology to the Flawless Precision
of Mathematical Economics?

• Samuelsons hypothesis
• Confusion results from one of two sources
• Using the same word to mean different things, or
  different words to mean the same thing
• Mathematics forces us to state our assumptions
  explicitly and be clear about our terms
• Bouldings hypothesis
• Since the real world is a muddle, it would be an
  awful shame to be clear about it.
• Greater productivity of vagueness
• Shackle/Rothbard
• Mathematical economics doesnt do the job of
  clarifying because syntax and semantics are two
  different things and human affairs are about
  semantics

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Where Are We At?

• Model
• Game theory
• Measure
• Statistical significance and economic
  significance
• Method
• Analytic Narrative
• pluralism