Knowing and Making

I'd like to write a full article on each of today's links, but I may never get around to it. In the meantime, you may have your own conclusions to draw: Tim Haab has a good defence of economics as a mathematical discipline. While the particular maths we have to use will evolve, as we incorporate more psychology, theory of organisations and financial institutions into the orthodoxy, economics will and should still use lots of mathematics - because that's the only way we can build and apply successful models. In this review of Create Your Own Economy , Henry Farrell starts to build an argument that the internal mental orderings which add value to our own lives, can also add value to other people's. My own review (not out yet) touches on the converse idea - can ready-made (or at least part-cooked) mental orderings be provided to us as a service? A mini-Easterlin paradox from Stephanie Flanders : as a country, are we more interested in comparative measures of GDP (against ...

Dear Tyler I'm very much looking forward to reading Create Your Own Economy and even more encouraged by your offer on the blog today. And yet I have a dilemma. It seems that it won't be published in the UK until September (not in fact, as per amazon.co.uk , last February). I can order it now from Amazon US, but the estimated delivery time is 18-32 business days - which might take me nearly up to the UK publication date anyway. Unless I pay more for priority courier service than the price of the book. And that option - even if it still generates positive consumer surplus - just doesn't feel right. On the other hand, I can buy the CD version which is available in the UK and get it delivered next week. Or I can get an audio version online - but that isn't downloadable until Tuesday 14th. And anyway, either of the audio editions will take longer to consume than the hardcover version. I am pretty sure I can read faster than Patrick Lawlor can speak. Not as long, admitte...

I am looking forward to Tyler Cowen's new book, Create Your Own Economy , which sounds like a thought-provoking and very unusual approach to economics. But I didn't really want to pay US shipping fees or wait several days, so I clicked over to the UK version of Amazon to see its entry there . I was surprised to see that on the UK edition, he has acquired a new editor and illustrator...with very strange names: But I guess people have all sorts of odd names nowadays. So I thought I'd scroll down and find out a bit more about what the book covers. I'm afraid, however, that it may be a little too avant-garde for me. The product description is in some rather odd style of free verse. I am sure the book will be exciting but it's going to be tough going if this is any guide: