social science production (was: Dark Sides of 'Solidarity'?)

Jay Hecht JayHecht at aol.com
Mon May 11 13:03:49 PDT 1998


In a message dated 98-05-09 16:11:08 EDT, you write:

<<

Actually I've seen reports in the mainstream press about the

fall in demand for business economists for precisely this reason:

business firms found them expendable. Another form of this came

out in firms utilizing macro forecasting, to the effect that the

newer people coming out of blue-chip departments weren't very

useful because they couldn't do actual modelling, or because most

macro modelling in the business world remains Keynesian. I even

caught the Heritage FOundation using a Keynesian model to

support one of their dubious propositions.

>> Actually, in the shop I work in, they only hire math majors. When I began working in the early 1980s, macro modeling was falling into disrepute. Interestingly, both the 2 leading forecasting firms use a mis-mash (they prefer "eclectic") approach: ag supply is a NC production function vs. ag demand which is basically Keynesian with some new bus cycle stuff. Though you are right on about learning about how to use a macro model - from what I observe, there are few cutting-edge econometricians who would know how to build a macro model (and actually use it!)

Jason



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