e-branch
Login
My List - 0
Help
Home
My Account/Renew Loans
Community Info
KidSearch
New Catalogue!
Search
Advanced
By Format
By Number
My Searches
Can't Find it?
Find Magazine Articles & more
Problems?
Search:
Title Starts with...
Title Keyword(s)
Author/Performer/Name (Last,First)
Author/Performer/Name Keyword(s)
Subject Starts with...
Subject Keyword(s)
Series Starts with...
Series Keyword(s)
Anyword/Anywhere
List Name Keyword(s)
Refine Search
> You're searching:
Halifax Public Libraries
Item Information
Choice Review
Library Journal Review
Table of Contents
More Content
More by this author
Schlefer, Jonathan, 1949-
Subjects
Economics.
Economists.
Browse Catalog
by author:
Schlefer, Jonathan, 1949-
by title:
The assumptions econ...
by call number:
330 S339a
Search the Web
Schlefer, Jonathan, 1949-
Economics.
Economists.
MARC Display
The
assumptions
economists
make
/ Jonathan Schlefer.
by
Schlefer, Jonathan, 1949-
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2012.
Call #:
330 S339a
Subjects
Economics.
Economists
.
ISBN:
9780674052260
0674052269
Description:
xv, 356 p. ; 22 cm.
Bibliography:
Includes bibliographical references (p. [317]-330) and index.
Contents:
The metaphor of the invisible hand -- What do
economists
do? -- In search of a model -- Economics when society matters -- Chasing a chimera -- Utopia -- This imperfect world -- Entering the realm of production -- What caused income inequality? -- Understanding an uncertain world -- In the long run -- In the short run -- The golden age of capitalism -- Economies in crisis -- Thinking about economies.
Summary:
Economists
make
confident assertions in op-ed columns and on cable news - so why are their explanations often at odds with equally confident assertions from other
economists
? And why are all economic predictions so rarely borne out? Harnessing his frustration with these contradictions, Jonathan Schlefer set out to investigate how
economists
arrive at their opinions. While
economists
cloak their views in the aura of science, what they actually do is
make
assumptions
about the world, use those
assumptions
to build imaginary economies (known as models), and from those models generate conclusions. Their models can be useful or dangerous, and it is surprisingly difficult to tell which is which. Schlefer arms us with an understanding of rival
assumptions
and models reaching back to Adam Smith and forward to cutting-edge theorists today. Although abstract, mathematical thinking characterizes
economists
' work, Schlefer reminds us that
economists
are unavoidably human. They fall prey to fads and enthusiasms and subscribe to ideologies that shape their
assumptions
, sometimes in problematic ways. Schlefer takes up current controversies such as income inequality and the financial crisis, for which he holds
economists
in large part accountable. Although theorists won international acclaim for creating models that demonstrated the inherent instability of markets, ostensibly practical
economists
ignored those accepted theories and instead relied on their blind faith in the invisible hand of unregulated enterprise. Schlefer explains how the politics of economics allowed them to do so.
Holds:
0
Copy/Holding information
No Item Information
Horizon Information Portal 3.24_8902M
© 2001-2013
SirsiDynix
All rights reserved.