In Good Economics for Hard Times: Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems, Nobel-Prize winning economists Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo carefully lay out evidence to provide a grounded approach to tackling today’s most pressing global problems. With a focus on alleviating inequality and poverty, Banerjee and Duflo’s book clears a path for more interdisciplinary work centred on improving citizens’ … Continued
Category: economics
After the crisis, economics needs to slow down
This is the twelth post in a six-week series: Rapid or Rushed? exploring rapid response publishing in covid times. Read the rest of the series here. As part of the series, there was a virtual roundtable featuring Professor Joshua Gans (Economics in the Age of COVID-19, MIT Press), in conversation with Richard Horton (The COVID-19 Catastrophe, Polity … Continued
Book Review: Network Origins of the Global Economy: East vs. West in a Complex Systems Perspective by Hilton L. Root
In Network Origins of the Global Economy: East vs. West in a Complex Systems Perspective, Hilton L. Root argues for the need to consider economies and social orders as open, complex networks, focusing particularly on the transitions that have shaped Europe and China historically with implications for the present day. This original volume will not only serve as … Continued
Behavioural Economics on a Post-It
The COVID-19 lockdown has rapidly and radically changed academic life, disrupting the normal patterns of teaching and research that define the university. In this post, Adam Oliver reflects on how the lockdown led to him develop the behavioural economics on a post-it series and the particular challenges presented in reducing complex academic ideas to the … Continued
Book Review: Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events by Robert J. Shiller
In Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events, Robert J. Shiller argues for the significance of narrative when it comes to understanding the drivers of economic events, arguing that contagious narratives not only play a causal role in their unfolding but also that such events transform our narratives. The book raises important issues, writes … Continued
If we’re serious about changing the world, we need to get our evidence right – A comment on the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics.
The announcement of this year’s Nobel Prize in economics has highlighted divisions within the development economics community, particularly around the efficacy of using Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) as a tool for making social interventions. In this post Gorgi Krlev discusses the pros and cons of experimental approaches in economics and suggests that rather than seeing routes to delivering social change as […]
Book Review: Beautiful Game Theory: How Soccer Can Help Economics by Ignacio Palacios-Huerta
Beautiful Game Theory uses soccer to test economic theories and document novel human behaviour. Ignacio Palacios-Huerta offers insights into game theory and microeconomics, covering topics such as mixed strategies, discrimination, incentives, and human preferences. Peter Dawson approves of the mix between analytical rigour and stories, and there are many aspects that would interest journalists and policy-makers alike. This review originally appeared on LSE Review of Books. Beautiful […]
Teaching Integrity in Empirical Research: An Interview with Richard Ball and Norm Medeiros
This post is the latest in our NDSA Innovation Working Group’s ongoing Insights Interview series. Chelcie Rowell (Digital Initiatives Librarian, Wake Forest University) interviews Richard Ball (Associate Professor of Economics, Haverford College) and Norm Medeiros (Associate Librarian, Haverford Libraries) about Teaching Integrity in Empirical Research, or Project Tier. Chelcie: Can you briefly describe Teaching Integrity […]
Scientific Misbehavior in Economics: Unacceptable research practice linked to perceived pressure to publish.
Upholding research integrity depends on our ability to understand the extent of misconduct. Sarah Necker describes her landmark study on economists’ research norms and practices. Fabrication, falsification and plagiarism are widely considered to be unjustifiable, but misbehaviour is still prevalent. For example, 1-3% of economists surveyed admit that they have accepted or offered gifts, money, or sex in exchange for co-authorship, […]
Five minutes with Ha-Joon Chang: “Members of the general public have a duty to educate themselves in economics”
In an interview with Joel Suss, editor of the British Politics and Policy blog, Ha-Joon Chang discusses his new book, Economics: The User’s Guide, and the need for a pluralist approach to economics. He recently gave a public lecture at the LSE, the video of which can be seen here. This post originally appeared on British Politics and Policy (BPP). In a recent article, you […]