Sunday, September 30, 2012

To model or not to model, that is the question — An impression of the UMKC Post Keynesian conference

The conference itself was a bit of a sleepy affair, with most of the other talks I attended being more literary criticism (e.g several quotes from Keynes, Minsky, and others, strung together and compared with recent events) than actual modeling.
My overall impression is that if this is all that heterodoxy has to offer as an alternative to mainstream economics, then the profession is in deeper trouble than I thought.
Quantitative Finance: Foundations and Applications
Having fun with economics and Lord Skidelsky
Matheus Grasselli | Associate Professor and Sharcnet Chair in Financial Mathematics working with the PhiMac group in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at McMaster University, currently Deputy Director at the Fields Institute
(h/t Clonal in the comments)

7 comments:

JKH said...

"Finally when I asked him directly what his advice to mathematician trying to contribute to economics would be ..."

Try a little more algebra and a lot less calculus.

Matt Franko said...

LOL! ;)

Dan Lynch said...

I partially agree with Lord Skidelsky in the sense that when dealing with the general public, MMT'ers need to take a hint from George Lakoff and emphasize the practical and moral advantages of their policies, without getting bogged down in policy details that will simply put people to sleep.

But I expect nerdy math and policy details to be presented at a conference of academics, and don't see anything wrong with that.

There is definitely a place in the world for computer modeling. I enjoy using computer simulation programs for reloading ammunition and for porting 2-stroke engines. It's faster and cheaper to run simulated experiments on the computer than to conduct the same experiments in real life.


PeterP said...

I think this is bad news: "sleepy conference" nobody doing modeling, just talk... Where is SFC modeling? Sectoral balances? Post Keynesians could beat the mainstream on its own turf, they prefer to whine and philosophise instead :(

paul meli said...

"There is definitely a place in the world for computer modeling."

Dan Lynch,

For electronic circuit modelling also, much easier and more practical to do preliminary design on the computer.

As luck would have it one of the best packages is also free…LTSpiceIV.

paul meli said...

Matt,

Bill Mitchell says "moron":

http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=21129

Deus-DJ said...

Just FYI, he was only there on the last day, and he missed the presentations that had formal modeling. He simply should not have commented or should have mentioned he missed most of the presentations. Plus, he's wrong on other counts, this goes to methodology.