Mathematical modelling in the wake of the crisis: a blessing or a curse? What does the economics profession say?

Bigo, Vinca; Negru, Ioana

Abstract

The economics profession has been heavily criticised for not anticipating the economic crisis that began in 2007. And even now economists seem unable to suggest ways out of this crisis. It is widely acknowledged that the emphasis of modern economics over the last 50 years has been heavily mathematical and formalistic. The aim of this paper is to examine whether, in the wake of the crisis, academic economists have examined this emphasis on mathematics and further to investigate the extent to which they are considering changing their methodological orientation. The results of our field study show that many economists have tended to reaffirm their position and argued for the use of newer, better mathematical models in economics.

Citation

Bigo, V., & Negru, I. Mathematical modelling in the wake of the crisis: a blessing or a curse? What does the economics profession say?. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 38(2), 329-347. https://doi.org/10.1093/cje/bet063

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Nov 14, 2013
• Deposit Date: Sep 7, 2016
• Journal: Cambridge Journal of Economics
• Print ISSN: 0309-166X
• Electronic ISSN: 1464-3545
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 38
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 329-347
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/cje/bet063