The Craft Of Economics

A review of the Heckscher–Ohlin framework prompts a noted economist to consider the methodology of economics. In this spirited and provocative book, Edward Leamer turns an examination of the Heckscher–Ohlin framework for global competition into an opportunity to consider the craft of economics: what economists do, what they should do, and what they shouldn't do. Claiming “a lifetime relationship with Heckscher–Ohlin,” Leamer argues that Bertil Ohlin's original idea offered something useful though vague and not necessarily valid; the economists who later translated his ideas into mathematical theorems offered something precise and valid but not necessarily useful. He argues further that the best economists keep formal and informal thinking in balance. An Ohlinesque mostly prose style can let in faulty thinking and fuzzy communication; a mostly math style allows misplaced emphasis and opaque communication. Leamer writes that today's model- and math-driven economics needs more prose and less math. Leamer shows that the Heckscher–Ohlin framework is still useful, and that there is still much work to be done with it. But he issues a caveat about economists: “What we do is not science, it's fiction and journalism.” Economic theory, he writes, is fiction (stories, loosely connected to the facts); data analysis is journalism (facts, loosely connected to the stories). Rather than titling the two sections of his book Theory and Evidence, he calls them Economic Fiction and Econometric Journalism, explaining, “If you find that startling, that's good. I am trying to keep you awake.”

An incisive guide that helps up-and-coming economists become successful scholars The Economist's Craft introduces graduate students and rising scholars to the essentials of research, writing, and other critical skills for a successful career in economics. Michael Weisbach enables you to become more effective at communicating your ideas, emphasizing the importance of choosing topics that will have a lasting impact. He explains how to write clearly and compellingly, present and publish your findings, navigate the job market, and more. Walking readers through each stage of a research project, Weisbach demonstrates how to develop research around a theme so that the value from a body of work is more than the sum of its individual papers. He discusses how to structure each section of an academic article and describes the steps that follow the completion of an initial draft, from presenting and revising to circulating and eventually publishing. Weisbach reveals how to get the most out of graduate school, how the journal review process works, how universities decide promotions and tenure, and how to manage your career and continue to seek out rewarding new opportunities. A how-to guide for the aspiring economist, The Economist's Craft covers a host of important issues rarely taught in the graduate classroom, providing readers with the tools and insights they need to succeed as professional scholars.

Are we aware of the values of craft? In this edited volume, cultural economists, researchers and professionals provide an interdisciplinary discussion of the relevance and contribution of the craft sector to the economy, as well as to society at large. Mignosa and Kotipalli bring together contributors to compare the craft sector across countries, analysing the role of institutions, educational bodies, organisations and market structure in its evolution and perception. The Western approach to craft and its subordinate position to the arts is contrasted with the prestige of craftmanship in Eastern countries, while the differing ways that craft has attracted the attention of policy agencies, museums, designers and private institutions across regions is also analysed. This volume is vital reading to those interested in the economic features of craft and craftsmanship around the world, as well as for those interested in the importance of policy in bringing about effective sustainable development.

Craft and the Creative Economy examines the place of craft and making in the contemporary cultural economy, with a distinctive focus on the ways in which this creative sector is growing exponentially as a result of online shopfronts and home-based micro-enterprise, 'mumpreneurialism' and downshifting, and renewed demand for the handmade.

This book investigates the birth and evolution of craft breweries around the world. Microbrewery, brewpub, artisanal brewery, henceforth craft brewery, are terms referred to a new kind of production in the brewing industry contraposed to the mass production of beer, which has started and diffused in almost all industrialized countries in the last decades. This project provides an explanation of the entrepreneurial dynamics behind these new firms from an economic perspective. The product standardization of large producers, the emergence of a new more sophisticated demand and set of consumers, the effect of contagion, and technology aspects are analyzed as the main determinants behind this ‘revolution’. The worldwide perspective makes the project distinctive, presenting cases from many relevant countries, including the USA, Australia, Japan, China, UK, Belgium, Italy and many other EU countries.

This book is a practical guide to building economic models both macroeconomic and multisectoral. It uses free software available from the Internet together with regularly updated databanks including the quarterly national accounts of the United States and other quarterly data. It assumes no prior acquaintance with econometrics or computer programming, but does assume a willingness to follow a mathematical argument. Much of the text has often been used in college teaching. The book begins with a very simple model that can be computed with a hand calculator or cell phone. The model has, however, a nonlinearity in the investment function and shows how a nonlinearity can lead to a model with a cycle which neither damps out nor explodes. It then moves to models built with real data in the framework of the U.S. National Income and Product Accounts and develops the important concept of identity-centered modeling. Once the identities are are working properly, the modeler can proceed to the estimation of equations by least-squares regressions. Gradually the reader is led to the construction of a model roughly comparable to those used by commercial economic forecasting firms. At every step of the way, the reader sees results of calculations with real data and is urged to estimate his or her own equations with real, up-to-date data. The second section explores making alternative forecasts with this model and devising optimal economic policies with its aid. It also explores the range of uncertainty of the forecasts due to known variability of the errors in its equations. A rather long chapter expounds some conventional econometric methods and applies them to real data to both illustrate them and evaluate their usefulness. Although most of the book uses equations which are linear in the parameters which must be estimated, some functions very useful for certain purposes in economics are non-linear in the parameters. A chapter is devoted to their estimation. Most of the book uses the relatively simple U.S. system of national accounts, but one chapter deals with modeling with the more complicated System of National Accounts used by most other countries. Like the economy itself, dynamic models such as those built here have a tendency to develop cycles. One chapter looks into the mathematical theory of why that is so. The third section enlarges the scope of the book to include multisectoral models. Although here the model actually built is a tiny one of 8-sectors with made-up data, the methods employed are exactly those of the Inforum models used in a number of countries around the world. Multi-sectoral models can use many of the same techniques used for macromodels, but there are some additional problems. One of these is the estimation of personal consumption functions where the demand for any one product depends not only on its price but those of all other products. One method which has worked better than others is explained and the results of its estimation in four countries are presented and compared. Another problem is the computation of product-to-product tables from those constructed by statistical agencies. The book does not explain Real Business Cycle models, nor Computable General Equilibrium models, nor Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium models, which are all, in the author's opinion, unrealistic fads, not serious ways of modeling an economy..

Autobiographical essays from twenty top economists at mid-career

Elinor Ostrom’s Nobel Prize-winning work on common pool property rights has implications for some of the most pressing sustainability issues of the twenty-first century — from tackling climate change to maintaining cyberspace. In this book, Derek Wall critically examines Ostrom’s work, while also exploring the following questions: is it possible to combine insights rooted in methodological individualism with a theory that stresses collectivist solutions? Is Ostrom’s emphasis on largely local solutions to climate change relevant to a crisis propelled by global factors? This volume situates her ideas in terms of the constitutional analysis of her partner Vincent Ostrom and wider institutional economics. It outlines her key concerns, including a radical research methodology, commitment to indigenous people and the concept of social-ecological systems. Ostrom is recognised for producing a body of work which demonstrates how people can construct rules that allow them to exploit the environment in an ecologically sustainable way, without the need for governmental regulation, and this book argues that in a world where ecological realities increasingly threaten material prosperity, such scholarship provides a way of thinking about how humanity can create truly sustainable development. Given the inter-disciplinary nature of Ostrom’s work, this book will be relevant to those working in the areas of environmental economics, political economy, political science and ecology.