Book club to follow. A full copy of this book is available here
Showing posts with label book club. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book club. Show all posts
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Edgeworth Mathematical Psychics
Following Denis Conniffe's masterful lecture on Francis Edgeworth at the Irish Economics Association this weekend, I am currently engaged in a lot of head-scratching reading back through Edgeworth's 1881 work Mathematical Psychics. The talk was particularly fascinating for me in highlighting the strong connection of Edgeworth to contemporary experimental psychologists such as Fechner. It is a time in the history of economic thought with a lot of parallels to the present day, and it is remarkable how much material one can find in the 1880's and 1890's that is very similar in spirit to a lot of modern behavioural economics.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Book Club on Identity and Economics: Reminder
Just a reminder on the book club folks. Please email me if you are coming along.
The next book club will take place on the recently released book "Identity Economics: How Our Identity Shapes our Work Wages and WellBeing " authored by George Akerlof and Rachel Kranton and published by Princeton University Press. The venue is Duke Bar at 7.30pm on February 16th. As usual, please email if you are coming along. It is not necessary to read the book in advance, but we don't forbid that. This is a really important book and I look forward to debating it. Aspects of it will also feature in my teaching this year and I am happy to have a session in Geary during the day at some point also if people don't like the later hour.
The next book club will take place on the recently released book "Identity Economics: How Our Identity Shapes our Work Wages and WellBeing " authored by George Akerlof and Rachel Kranton and published by Princeton University Press. The venue is Duke Bar at 7.30pm on February 16th. As usual, please email if you are coming along. It is not necessary to read the book in advance, but we don't forbid that. This is a really important book and I look forward to debating it. Aspects of it will also feature in my teaching this year and I am happy to have a session in Geary during the day at some point also if people don't like the later hour.
Friday, February 05, 2010
Book Club: Identity and Economics
The next book club will take place on the recently released book "Identity Economics: How Our Identity Shapes our Work Wages and WellBeing " authored by George Akerlof and Rachel Kranton and published by Princeton University Press. The venue is Duke Bar at 7.30pm on February 16th. As usual, please email if you are coming along. It is not necessary to read the book in advance, but we don't forbid that. This is a really important book and I look forward to debating it. Aspects of it will also feature in my teaching this year and I am happy to have a session in Geary during the day at some point also if people don't like the later hour.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Identity Economics: Not a Review
This is not a review. Just an attempt to stir up some interest in advance of a bookclub. "Identity Economics, How our identities shape our work, wages and well-being" by George Akerlof and Rachel Kranton was published recently by Princeton University Press. It draws from and develops material published by the two authors, particularly articles in the QJE, JEL, JEP and AER published from 2000 to 2008, articles that will be familiar to a lot of readers here.
The book is divided into ten chapters and four sections. Section 1 Economics and Identity comprises (i) introduction (ii) identity economics (iii) identity and norms (iv) where we fit. In particular, this section advances the idea that incorporating identity into economics is an important step in economics, as important as the process largely already undertaken of incorporating human judgment processes. They argue that norms and social categorisation are fundamental components of human decision making and valuation in a way that is simply not characterised adaquately in standard accounts of utility and tastes.
Section 2 Work and Schooling comprises (v) Organisations and (vi) Schooling. This section applies the identity economics framework to these two key components of economic life. The first chapter argues that understanding economic organisations such as firms and factories requires a detailed understanding of the identity and roles played by individuals within the organisation. Their schooling chapter considers the key role of identity in how people make decisions about and transition through schooling.
Section 3 "Gender and Race" comprises (vii) "Gender and Work" and (viii) "Race and Poverty". The first of these chapters considers gender identity and work. The second examines ethnic identities and the relation to poverty, in particular advancing the idea of identity feedback loops between minority and majority that can lead to perpetuating cycles of poverty for affected ethnic groups.
Section 4 "Looking Ahead" comprises (ix) Methodology and (x) Looking Ahead. Chapter (ix) argues that methods such as IV and natural experiments cannot fully encapsulate what is driving the relation between identity and economic outcomes, and advocates for richer descriptive accounts of economic systems and subsystems. Chapter 10 concludes on how identity considerations may change economics.
This is not the place for a lengthy review. I recommend strongly that anyone with an interest in behavioural economics read the book. The extent to which identity as described by the authors truly adds to behavioural economics will be debated thoroughly as a result of this work. I really look forward to discussing this book in lectures and our bookclub and I am sure it will reoccur on this site as it begins to filter more into economic debate.
With respect to our policy debate in Ireland, the book raises a number of questions, a sample of which I list below purely to get the ball rolling. I would really welcome a chance to debate the ideas in this book with a wide variety of people, inside and outside economics.
- the extent to which identity considerations render ineffective jobs programmes aimed at areas where male unemployment is now the majority position.
- the extent to which men and women derive serious positive and negative utility through adherence or non-adherence to prescribed gender roles and the extent to which this matters for economic policy.
- the extent to which "working class" identities influence school and college choice and the extent to which this interacts to major government spending initiatives in promoting access to education.
- how identity interacts with working roles to lead to well-being.
- the extent to which Irish identity influences our economic behaviour in areas like consumption, saving, migration, working patterns and so on.
The book is divided into ten chapters and four sections. Section 1 Economics and Identity comprises (i) introduction (ii) identity economics (iii) identity and norms (iv) where we fit. In particular, this section advances the idea that incorporating identity into economics is an important step in economics, as important as the process largely already undertaken of incorporating human judgment processes. They argue that norms and social categorisation are fundamental components of human decision making and valuation in a way that is simply not characterised adaquately in standard accounts of utility and tastes.
Section 2 Work and Schooling comprises (v) Organisations and (vi) Schooling. This section applies the identity economics framework to these two key components of economic life. The first chapter argues that understanding economic organisations such as firms and factories requires a detailed understanding of the identity and roles played by individuals within the organisation. Their schooling chapter considers the key role of identity in how people make decisions about and transition through schooling.
Section 3 "Gender and Race" comprises (vii) "Gender and Work" and (viii) "Race and Poverty". The first of these chapters considers gender identity and work. The second examines ethnic identities and the relation to poverty, in particular advancing the idea of identity feedback loops between minority and majority that can lead to perpetuating cycles of poverty for affected ethnic groups.
Section 4 "Looking Ahead" comprises (ix) Methodology and (x) Looking Ahead. Chapter (ix) argues that methods such as IV and natural experiments cannot fully encapsulate what is driving the relation between identity and economic outcomes, and advocates for richer descriptive accounts of economic systems and subsystems. Chapter 10 concludes on how identity considerations may change economics.
This is not the place for a lengthy review. I recommend strongly that anyone with an interest in behavioural economics read the book. The extent to which identity as described by the authors truly adds to behavioural economics will be debated thoroughly as a result of this work. I really look forward to discussing this book in lectures and our bookclub and I am sure it will reoccur on this site as it begins to filter more into economic debate.
With respect to our policy debate in Ireland, the book raises a number of questions, a sample of which I list below purely to get the ball rolling. I would really welcome a chance to debate the ideas in this book with a wide variety of people, inside and outside economics.
- the extent to which identity considerations render ineffective jobs programmes aimed at areas where male unemployment is now the majority position.
- the extent to which men and women derive serious positive and negative utility through adherence or non-adherence to prescribed gender roles and the extent to which this matters for economic policy.
- the extent to which "working class" identities influence school and college choice and the extent to which this interacts to major government spending initiatives in promoting access to education.
- how identity interacts with working roles to lead to well-being.
- the extent to which Irish identity influences our economic behaviour in areas like consumption, saving, migration, working patterns and so on.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Hayek to Minsky
Thanks to those who attended for a great session on "Road to Serfdom" last night. Three hours was enough to at least get a feel for how the book set the tone for nearly 70 years of debate. I will post details of the next one up here soon. Most likely to be Hyman Minsky's Stabilising an Unstable Economy .
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Hayek: Road to Serfdom
Anybody interested in discussing this book at 7.30 next Tuesday evening (19th) in the Duke, send me an email. Wiki details of the book are here I will post up details of further book clubs soon. A number of people have volunteered to chair some lunchtime sessions.
Two particular things I have been thinking about as I prepare the book is what Hayek would have made of Libertarian Paternalism and I hope I get a chance to tease this through. Also, whether Hayek poses a challenge to those of us arguing for direct intervention in the youth labour market. It clearly is not something he would have approved of but I would like to find a good Hayekian to spar with on this.
Two particular things I have been thinking about as I prepare the book is what Hayek would have made of Libertarian Paternalism and I hope I get a chance to tease this through. Also, whether Hayek poses a challenge to those of us arguing for direct intervention in the youth labour market. It clearly is not something he would have approved of but I would like to find a good Hayekian to spar with on this.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Hyman Minsky and the Frisco Fed
The Mostly Economics Blog points to a speech by Janet Yellen from the Federal Reserve on Hyman Minsky and the "Minsky Moment", ongoing at present. Given that folks at the Frisco Fed are reading Minsky now, maybe this would be a good time to take Liam's sugggestion on this for the next book club? One month from now, perhaps?
Central to Minsky’s view of how financial meltdowns occur, of course, are “asset price bubbles.” This evening I will revisit the ongoing debate over whether central banks should act to counter such bubbles and discuss “lessons learned.” This issue seems especially compelling now that it’s evident that episodes of exuberance, like the ones that led to our bond and house price bubbles, can be time bombs that cause catastrophic damage to the economy when they explode. Indeed, in view of the financial mess we’re living through, I found it fascinating to read Minsky again and reexamine my own views about central bank responses to speculative financial booms. My thoughts on this have changed somewhat, as I will explain.
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