“Mathematics brought rigor to Economics. Unfortunately, it also brought mortis.”
Kenneth Boulding
“Surely, the use of mathematical and statistical techniques is not a problem per se. Such techniques simply ensure our arguments are conceptually and empirically coherent. Yes, excessive focus on these techniques, or the use of math just for its own sake, are a problem – but a problem against which there is already a counter-movement from within. In the top journals of the profession, I would say most math-heavy papers are driven by substantive questions rather than methods-driven concerns.”
Dani Rodrik (2013.05.07)
İktisatçıların; iktisadi tarih analizlerinde de, teorik modellerin geliştirilmesinde de, bu modellerin ampirik olarak (ekonometri ve/veya zaman serisi analizleri kullanılarak) test edilmesinde de uygun matematik ve istatistik tekniklerini kullanmamaları olanaksız. Ancak, yine de, iktisatta (aşırı) matematik kullanımı çok uzun zamandan beri çeşitli iktisatçılar tarafından değişik gerekçelerle eleştiriliyor ve tartışılıyor.
2004-2006 yıllarında bu tartışmalara ilgim oldukça artmış ve bir genç meslekdaşım ile birlikte bu konuda bir ortak araştırma yapmayı aklımızdan geçirmiştik. Bugün bir başka genç meslekdaşımın bana gönderdiği bir soru mesajı üzerine, o dönemde yaptığım geniş literatür (t)aramasının sonuçlarının kişisel bilgisayarımın bir köşesinde 2005′ten beri “atıl” kaldığını hatırladım.
2005 yılında hazırladığım ve (bir bölümünü okumak dışında) maalesef hiç kullanamdığım(ız) ilgili literatür listesini, bu vesileyle, blog’umda konu hakkında okuma/araştırma yapmak isteyenlerin kullanımına sunmanın yararlı olabileceğini düşündüm. Fakat bu günlük yazısını, fırsat bulunca ileride mutlaka bazı ek bilgi, yorum ve tavsiyelerle güncelleştireceğim. Şimdilik sadece listeyi aşağıya aktarmakla yetiniyorum:
Attar, M. Aykut (2011): “Kuramdaki Biçimsellik ve Yöntembilimdeki Çoğulculuk”, Hakan Mıhcı (der.), İktisada Dokunmak: İbrahim Tanyeri’ye Armağan, s. 121-150, Ankara: Phoenix Yayınevi.
Backhouse, Roger E. (1998): “If Mathematics is Informal, Then Perhaps We Should Accept That Economics Must be Informal Too”, Economic Journal, 108 (451), 1848-58.
Baumol, W. J. (1966): “Economic Models and Mathematics”, in S. R. Krupp (ed.), The Structure of Economic Science, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 88-101.
Baumol, W. J. ve S. M. Goldfeld (eds.) (1968): Precursors in Mathematical Economics: An Anthology. London: London School of Economics Series of Reprints of Scarce Works on Political Economy, No. 19.
Baumol, W. J. (1969): “Mathematics in Economic Analysis”, in T. L. Saaty and F. J. Weyl, The Spirit and the Uses of the Mathematical Sciences, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 246-262.
Beed, C. ve O. Kane (1991): “What Is the Critique of the Mathematization of Economics?“ Kyklos, 44(4): 581-612.
Baumol, W. J. (1991): “Toward a Newer Economics: The Future Lies Ahead!” The Economic Journal, 101 (404), 1 – 8.
Bodenhorn, Diran (1956): “The Problem of Economic Assumptions in Mathematical Economics”, The Journal of Political Economy, 64 (1), 25-32.
Boulding, Kenneth E. (1948): “Samuelson’s Foundations: The Role of Mathematics in Economics”, The Journal of Political Economy, 56 (3), 187-99.
Champernowne, D. G. (1954), “V. On the Use and Misuse of Mathematics in Presenting Economic Theory”, The Review of Economic Statistics, 36 (4), 369-72.
Chick, Victoria (1998): “On Knowing One’s Place: The Role of Formalism in Economics”, Economic Journal, 108 (451), 1859-69.
Colander, D., R. P. F. Holt, and B. J. Rosser, Jr. (2004): “The Changing Face of Mainstream Economics“, Review of Political Economy, 16(4): 485 – 499.
Crum, W. L. (1927): “The Role of Mathematics in Economic and Business Statistics”, The American Economic Review, 17 (3), 448-57.
Debreu, Gerard (1984): “Economic Theory in the Mathematical Mode”, The American Economic Review, 74 (3), 267-78.
Debreu, Gerard (1986): “Theoretic Models: Mathematical Form and Economic Content”, Econometrica (Journal of the Econometric Society), 54 (6), 1259-70.
Debreu, G. (1991): “The Mathematization of Economic Theory“, American Economic Review, 81(1): 1-7.
Dow, S. C. (1999): “The Use of Mathematics in Economics“, ESRC Public Understanding of Mathematics Seminar, Birmingham, 21-2 May.
Dow, S. C. (2003): “The Relationship between Mathematics and Economics“, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 25(4): 545-8.
Enke, Stephen (1955): “More on the Misuse of Mathematics in Economics: A Rejoinder”, The Review of Economic Statistics, 37 (2), 131-33.
Espinosa, Miguel, Rondon, Carlos ve Romero, Mauricio (2012): The use of mathematics in economics and its effect on a scholar’s academic career. MPRA Paper No. 41363.
Grubel, H. G., L. A. Boland (1986): “On the Effective Use of Mathematics in Economics”, Kyklos, 39(?): 419?442.
Kantorovich, Leonid V. (1989): “Mathematics in Economics: Achievements, Difficulties, Perspectives”, The American Economic Review, 79 (6, Nobel Lectures and 1989 Survey of Members), 18-22.
Klein, L. R. (1954): “I. The Contributions of Mathematics in Economics”, The Review of Economic Statistics, 36 (4), 359-61.
Koopmans, Tjalling C. (1954): “VIII. On the Use of Mathematics in Economics”, The Review of Economic Statistics, 36 (4), 377-79.
Krugman, Paul (1998): “Two Cheers for Formalism”, Economic Journal, 108 (451), 1829-36.
Leijonhufvud, A. (1997): “Models and Theories“, Journal of Economic Methodology, 4(2): 193-8.
Leontief, W. (1954): “Mathematics in Economics”, Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, (May): 215- 233.
Leontief, W. (1971): “Theoretical Assumptions and Nonobserved Facts”, American Economic Review, 61 (March): 1-7.
Mayer, Joseph (1933): “Pseudo-Scientific Method in Economics”, Econometrica (Journal of the Econometric Society), 1 (4), 418-28.
McCloskey, Deirdre (2005): “The Trouble with Mathematics and Statistics in Economics“, History of Economic Ideas, 13 (3): 85-102.
Mirowski, Philip (1989): “The Probabilistic Counter-Revolution, or How Stochastic Concepts came to Neoclassical Economic Theory”, Oxford Economic Papers, 41 (1, History and Methodology of Econometrics), 217-35.
Mirowski, P. (1991): “The When, the How and the Why of Mathematical Expression in the History of Economic Analysis”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 5(Winter): 145-158.
Little, D. (?): “Philosophy of Economics“, Routledge Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Science.
Pogrebna, G. (2005): “Mathematical Formalism in Economics: Verdict of the Reality“, Oeconomicus, Volume VII, 2004-2005, 83-109.
Quddus, M. ve S. Rashid (1993): “The Overmathematization of Economics: Lessons for Business Disciplines”, Journal for Education for Business, 68(5): 288-292.
Quddus, M. ve S. Rashid (1994): “The Overuse of Mathematics in Economics: Nobel Resistance“, Eastern Economic Journal, 20(3): 251-265.
Rashid, S. (1977): “William Whewell and Early Mathematical Economics“, The Manchester School of Economic & Social Studies, 45(4): 381-91.
Rashid, S. (1994): “John von Neumann, Scientific Method and Empirical Economics“, Journal of Economic Methodology, 1994, vol. 1, issue 2, pages 279-93.
Rashid, S. (2001): “Successful engineers and indifferent economists“, Journal of Engineering Education.
Reed, L. W. (1977): “A Critique of Mathematical Economics“, The Freeman (a publication of The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc.),27(4).
Rosenberg, A. (1992): Economics – Mathematical Politics or Science of Diminishing Returns? Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Rothschild, K. W. (1991): “The mathematization of economic theory: Gerard Debreu”, American Economic Review 81 (1991) 1-7, European Journal of Political Economy, 7(4): 617.
Samuelson, Paul A. (1952): “Economic Theory and Mathematics–An Appraisal”, American Economic Review, 42 (2, Papers and Proceedings of the Sixty-fourth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association), 56-66.
Samuelson, Paul A. (1954): “Introduction: Mathematics in Economics–No, No or Yes, Yes, Yes?”, The Review of Economic Statistics, 36 (4), 359.
Samuelson, Paul A. (1954): “IX. Some Psychological Aspects of Mathematics and Economics”, The Review of Economic Statistics, 36 (4), 380-86.
Schabas, M. L. (1989): “Alfred Marshall, W. Stanley Jevons, and the Mathematization of Economics”, Isis, 80(No. 301, March): 60-73.
Schoeffler, Sidney (1956): “Mathematics in Economics: Some Dangers”, The Review of Economic Statistics, 38 (1), 88-90.
Schultz, Henry (1927): “Mathematical Economics and the Quantitative Method”, The Journal of Political Economy, 35 (5), 702-06.
Smolinski, Leon (1973): “Karl Marx and Mathematical Economics”, The Journal of Political Economy, 81 (5), 1189-204.
Solow, Robert (1954): “VI. The Survival of Mathematical Economics”, The Review of Economic Statistics, 36 (4), 372-74.
Spiegel, H. W. (1997): “Refugee Economicsts and the Mathematization of Economics”, in: H. Hagemann (ed.), Die deutschsprachige wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Emigration nach 1933, Marburg: Metropolis Verlag.
Szenberg, M. ve L. Ramrattan (eds.) (2004): Reflections of Eminent Economists. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
Tinbergen, J. (1954): “IV. The Functions of Mathematical Treatment”, The Review of Economic Statistics, 36 (4), 365-69.
Velupillai, K. V. (1996): “The Computable Alternative in the Formalization of Economics: A Counterfactual Essay“, Kyklos, 49(3): 251-72.
Velupillai, K. V. (2004): “The Unreasonable Ineffectiveness of Mathematics in Economics“, Università degli Studi, Dipartimento di Economia, Discussion Paper No. 6.
Weintraub, E. R. (1999): “How Should We Write the History of Twentieth-Century Economics?“, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 15(4): 139-52.
Weintraub, E. R. (2002): How Economics Became a Mathematical Science, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Weintraub, E. R. (2005): Unpublished response to Salim Rashid’s ‘Review of How Economics Became a Mathematical Science?’ that appeared in History of Political Economy.
Wilson, E. B. ve Stigler, George (1955): “Mathematics in Economics: Further Comment”, The Review of Economic Statistics, 37 (3), 297-300.
Woo, H. (1986): What’s Wrong with Formalization in Economics? Hong Kong: Victoria Press.
Yukarıdaki listeye, tartışmayı izlemeye devam ettiğim halde, 2005 yılından sonra maalesef neredeyse hiç ekleme yap(a)madığım için, yeterince güncel olmadığının farkındayım. Ancak, o eksiklikleri, eğer konuya ilgi duyuyorsanız siz zaten kendiniz tamamlayacaksınızdır.
Konuyla İlgili Bazı Yararlı Kaynak, Yazı ve Bağlantılar:
● Michael Hudson (1999.09.24): “The Use and Abuse of Mathematical Economics“
● Greg Mankiw (2006.09.15): “Why Aspiring Economists Need Math“
● Dani Rodrik (2007.09.04): “Why we use math in economics“
● Paul Krugman (2009.09.): “Mathematics and Economics“
● Ekrem Cunedioğlu (2010.10.03): “Hakim İktisat ve İktisadın Geleceği Üzerine“
● Michael Edesess (2012.05.14): “An Attack on Paul Krugman” (pdf)
● Institute for New Economic Thinking (2012.05.21): “Economics Is Not Math“
● Mahfi Eğilmez (2012.07.24): “Matematikte Sondan İkinciymişiz“
● Dani Rodrik (2013): “What is wrong (and right) in economics?“
Bu Yazının İlk Yayınlanma Tarihi: 2013.06.24, 00:31
Son Güncelleştirme Tarihi: 2013.06.24, 01:59