LEADER 04398nam 2200733Ia 450 001 9910972814503321 005 20251103161421.0 010 $a9780674065529 010 $a0674065522 010 $a9780674068834 010 $a0674068831 024 7 $a10.4159/harvard.9780674065529 035 $a(CKB)2560000000082516 035 $a(OCoLC)794004265 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary10568033 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000654436 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11435540 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000654436 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10660745 035 $a(PQKB)11454692 035 $a(DE-B1597)178217 035 $a(OCoLC)816331434 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780674065529 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3301089 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10568033 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3301089 035 $a(Perlego)1133751 035 $a(EXLCZ)992560000000082516 100 $a20111012d2012 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 14$aThe assumptions economists make /$fJonathan Schlefer 205 $a1st ed. 210 $aCambridge, Mass. $cBelknap Press of Harvard University Press$d2012 215 $a1 online resource (376 p.) 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 08$a9780674975408 311 08$a0674975405 311 08$a9780674052260 311 08$a0674052269 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p.[317]-330) and index. 327 $tFrontmatter --$tContents --$tA Personal Note --$tOne. The Metaphor of the Invisible Hand --$tTwo. What Do Economists Do? --$tThree. In Search of a Model --$tFour. Economics When Society Matters --$tFive. Chasing a Chimera --$tSix. Utopia --$tSeven. This Imperfect World --$tEight. Entering the Realm of Production --$tNine. What Caused Income Inequality? --$tTen. Understanding an Uncertain World --$tEleven. In the Long Run --$tTwelve. In the Short Run --$tThirteen. The Puzzle of the Golden Age of Capitalism --$tFourteen. Economies in Crisis --$tFifteen. Thinking about Economies --$tNotes --$tReferences --$tIndex 330 $aEconomists 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. The Assumptions Economists Make renders the behavior of economists much more comprehensible, if not less irrational. 606 $aEconomics 606 $aEconomists 606 $aEconomistes$2thub 606 $aPolítica econòmica$2thub 608 $aLlibres electrònics$2thub 615 0$aEconomics. 615 0$aEconomists. 615 7$aEconomistes 615 7$aPolítica econòmica 676 $a330 700 $aSchlefer$b Jonathan$f1949-$01812716 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910972814503321 996 $aThe assumptions economists make$94365258 997 $aUNINA