At an Economics and Sociology conference at Stanford a couple years ago, a grad student had written a paper on the Bahamas that argued that the contemporary Bahamian economy should be viewed as a continuation of the "piracy" economy of its past. Afterward in a small group chatting about it with the author, Akerlof said--completely sincerely--so how are you going to model it, kind of thinking out loud about it and so on. Everyone was just, like, whoa, where is this guy from? He is a very "nice" person, and to my surprise stayed through the entire day on the day he gave his talk (didn't come back for the second day, but, you know, let's not set our expectations too high here). I've also heard very nice things about him from students--he'll meet students in the office on weekends and takes calls from them at home, etc. But with the modeling thing, I think it's hopeless. They implant a wire in your head at MIT and similar programs and it prevents any kind of analysis that is not "modeled."
-----Original Message----- From: Michael Perelman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2002 4:53 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L:29696] Akerlof's Nobel Lecture What do you think about this claim? It seems correct to me. Now you cannot say anything to an economist without producing a model. George A. Akerlof. 2002. "Behavioral Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Behavior." American Economic Review, 92: 3 (June): pp. 411-33. 413: "Prior to the early 1960's, economic theorists rarely constructed models customized to capture unique institutions or specific market characteristics. Edward Chamberlin's monopolistic competition and Joan Robinson's equivalent 8 were taught in graduate and even a few undergraduate courses. However, such "specific" models were the rare exception; they were presented not as central sights, but instead as excursions into the countryside, for the adventurous or those with an extra day to spare. During the early 1960's, however, "special" models began to proliferate as growth theorists, working slightly outside the norms of standard price-theoretic economics, began to construct models with specialized technological features: putty-clay, vintage capital, and learning by doing." -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
