Why economic theory-with no track-record of predictive success-is still an indispensable tool for protecting civilized life.
Why economic theory-with no track-record of predictive success-is still an indispensable tool for protecting civilized life.
Economic theory has never gotten any better at prediction. Its explanations are always after the fact. The mathematical models economists have devoted themselves to for more than a century can't be improved to enhance their empirical relevance. But from this research program that never paid off, a very useful tool has emerged-game theory. It's just what civilized society needs to protect itself from the rapaciousness that condemns all markets to fail. In Blunt Instrument, Alex Rosenberg helps explain to outsiders exactly what they need to make sense of economic theory, and why despite its failures, it's still indispensable.
Economic theory is something we all should understand because the economy affects us all, and it is economic theorists who shape that economy for good or ill. No less an economist than John Maynard Keynes expressed the point in a memorable quotation- ""Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist."" This book draws back the curtain from the math and the graphs that deliver microeconomic and macroeconomic models. It demystifies the formidable-looking equations, explaining the reasoning behind the math so that outsiders can decide on the theory's importance to their own thinking about the economy. Finally, it shows how game theory-the study of strategic choice-emerged from the outlandish idealizations of economic theory. Most importantly, it illuminates how game theory both mitigates the failures of real-world economies and improves the design of important human institutions.
By:
Alex Rosenberg
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Weight: 567g
ISBN: 9780262049658
ISBN 10: 0262049651
Pages: 248
Publication Date: 18 March 2025
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Chapter One: Why We Need to Understand Economic Theory Chapter Two: Economics Won’t Budge, Can’t Budge, from Rational Choice Theory Chapter Three: Adam Smith is Still Setting the Agenda For Economic Theory Chapter Four: Who Invited Calculus? Chapter Five: Who Needs Money? Not Economic Theory! Chapter Six: Back to the Future with The New Classical Macroeconomics Chapter Seven: Economic Theory’s War against Profit Chapter Eight: It’s All Game Theory Now Chapter Nine: Financial Markets are the most important markets. So why are they fated always to fail the most? Chapter Ten: Why Economics is Indispensable Anyway
Alex Rosenberg is R. Taylor Cole Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Duke University, with secondary appointments in the biology and political science departments. He has held fellowships with the National Science Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Guggenheim Foundation. In 1993 Alex received the Lakatos Award in the philosophy of science. He has authored more than a dozen academic books, several historical novels, and hundreds of academic papers.
