 | This article's lead section does not adequately summarize key points of its contents.(September 2016) |
Neo-classical economics has come under critique on the basis of its core ideologies, assumptions, and other matters.
| | This article's lead section does not adequately summarize key points of its contents.(September 2016) |
Neo-classical economics has come under critique on the basis of its core ideologies, assumptions, and other matters.
Neoclassical economics is sometimes criticized for having a normative bias. In this view, it does not focus on explaining actual economies but instead on describing a "utopia" in which Pareto optimality applies. In the opinion of some developers of an alternative approach, the purpose of neoclassical economics is "to demonstrate the social optimality if the real world were to resemble the model", not "to explain the real world as observed empirically". [1]
In his book Economics as Religion: From Samuelson to Chicago and Beyond, the economist Robert Nelson argued that "the priesthood of a modern secular religion of economic progress" has promoted a narrow interpretation of economic efficiency, disguised in the form of mathematics. [2]
The assumption that individuals act rationally may be viewed as ignoring important aspects of human behavior. Many see the "economic man" as being quite different from real people. Many economists, even contemporaries, have criticized this model of economic man. Thorstein Veblen put it most sardonically. Neoclassical economics assumes a person to be as follows:
[A] lightning calculator of pleasures and pains, who oscillates like a homogeneous globule of desire of happiness under the impulse of stimuli that shift about the area, but leave him intact. [3]
Large corporations might perhaps come closer to the neoclassical ideal of profit maximization, but this is not necessarily viewed as desirable if this comes at the expense of neglect of wider social issues. The response to this is that neoclassical economics is descriptive and not normative. It addresses such problems with concepts of private versus social utility.
Problems exist with making the neoclassical general equilibrium theory compatible with an economy that develops over time and includes capital goods. This was explored in a major debate in the 1960s—the "Cambridge capital controversy"—about the validity of neoclassical economics, with an emphasis on the economic growth, capital, aggregate theory, and the marginal productivity theory of distribution. There were also internal attempts by neoclassical economists to extend the Arrow-Debreu model to disequilibrium investigations of stability and uniqueness. However a result known as the Sonnenschein-Mantel-Debreu theorem suggests that the assumptions that must be made to ensure that the equilibrium is stable and unique are quite restrictive.
Neoclassical economics is also often seen as relying too heavily on complex mathematical models, such as those used in general equilibrium theory, without enough regard to whether these actually describe the real economy. Many see an attempt to model a system as complex as a modern economy by a mathematical model as unrealistic and doomed to failure. Famous answer to this criticism is Milton Friedman's claim that theories should be judged by their ability to predict events rather than by the realism of their assumptions. Mathematical models also include those in game theory, linear programming, and econometrics.
For a detailed critique of mathematical modeling, as used in the academic and political practice of neoclassical economics, see Pitfalls of Economic Models.
In the "Concluding Remarks" (p. 524) of his 2001 Nobel Prize lecture, [4] Joseph Stiglitz examined why the neoclassical paradigm—and models based on it—persists, despite his publication, over a decade earlier, of some of his seminal results showing that Information Asymmetries invalidated core Assumptions of that paradigm and its models:
In the aftermath of the 2007–2009 global economic meltdown, the profession's attachment to unrealistic models is increasingly being questioned and criticized. After a weeklong workshop, one group of economists released a paper highly critical of their own profession's unethical use of unrealistic models. Their Abstract offers an indictment of fundamental practices:
The assumption of rational expectations which has been introduced in some more modern neoclassical models (sometimes also called new classical) can also be criticized on the grounds of realism.
In general, allegedly overly unrealistic assumptions are one of the most common criticisms towards neoclassical economics. It is fair to say that many (but not all) of these criticisms can only be directed towards a subset of the neoclassical models (for example, there are many neoclassical models where unregulated markets fail to achieve Pareto-optimality and there has recently been an increased interest in modeling non-rational decision making).
Economists tend to focus on markets or aggregate outcomes instead of observing individual behavior. Neoclassical economists have argued that evolutionary or "market forces" tend to select naturally the most “fit“ actors. Hence, neoclassical economic theories are based on assumptions that (competitive) markets provide an environment that involves incentives for economic actors to learn optimal behavior, on average, in the long run. In this line markets are thought to “heal“ the cognitive imperfections of actors through evolutionary forces, compelling most of them to behave "as if" they were rational. [6] According to Joseph Stiglitz, “(Economics as taught) in America’s graduate schools .... bears testimony to a triumph of ideology over science.” Recently more and more critics have raised their voices against the way Economics is being taught. On the subject Mark Blaug says: "Economics has increasingly become an intellectual game played for its own sake and not for its practical consequences for understanding the economic world. Economists have converted the subject into a sort of social mathematics in which analytical rigour is everything and practical relevance is nothing.” [7]
James K. Galbraith on his article A contribution on the state of economics in France and the world asks himself: "Is there anything missing even from the hotly contested domains of modern mainstream economics?" On his opinion, three large areas have disappeared from the teaching of Economics, "at very considerable intellectual and social cost": the history of economics itself, the proper study of macroeconomic and monetary economics—which have been submerged by the neoclassical emphasis on market transactions between firms and households—and the lack of instruction in differing institutional contexts (political, national and international structures, policy histories). [8]
The assumption that conduct is prompt and rational is in all cases a fiction. But it proves to be sufficiently near to reality, if things have had time to hammer logic into men. Where this has happened, and within the limits in which it has happened, one may rest content with this fiction and build theories upon it.
— Joseph Schumpeter (1934, 80; first published 1911)
However recent studies have shown that empirical evidence on this subject is mixed.[ citation needed ] There is plenty of empirical evidence that "anomalous" behavior can survive for a long time in real markets such as in market "bubbles" and market "herding" (see AVERY & ZEMSKY, 1998). Evidence from the laboratory shows that some anomalies are overcome by cox in real life market environments, while others are not: “The data suggest the market glass is both half-full of deviations and half-empty because some deviations were drained away by learning“ (CAMERER, 1995, 675). [6]
Recently empirical evidence has indicated that markets produce the types of learning assumed in the traditional neoclassical Economics only under very limited ideal conditions - which are rarely met in real-life - namely perfect competition and free information (see SUNDER, 1995). [6]
It may take an extended period of time for markets to eventually converge to an equilibrium, if at all. Even under ideal conditions especially if the economic actors' initial beliefs are not coordinated. [6]
Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Neoclassical economics is an approach to economics focusing on the determination of goods, outputs, and income distributions in markets through supply and demand. This determination is often mediated through a hypothesized maximization of utility by income-constrained individuals and of profits by firms facing production costs and employing available information and factors of production, in accordance with rational choice theory, a theory that has come under considerable question in recent years.
Rational choice theory, also known as choice theory or rational action theory, is a framework for understanding and often formally modeling social and economic behavior. The basic premise of rational choice theory is that aggregate social behavior results from the behavior of individual actors, each of whom is making their individual decisions. The theory also focuses on the determinants of the individual choices. Rational choice theory then assumes that an individual has preferences among the available choice alternatives that allow them to state which option they prefer. These preferences are assumed to be complete and transitive. The rational agent is assumed to take account of available information, probabilities of events, and potential costs and benefits in determining preferences, and to act consistently in choosing the self-determined best choice of action. In simpler terms, this theory dictates that every person, even when carrying out the most mundane of tasks, perform their own personal cost and benefit analysis in order to determine whether the action is worth pursuing for the best possible outcome. And following this, a person will choose the optimum venture in every case. This could culminate in a student deciding on whether to attend a lecture or stay in bed, a shopper deciding to provide their own bag to avoid the five pence charge or even a voter deciding which candidate or party based on who will fulfill their needs the best on issues that have an impact on themselves especially.
In economics, general equilibrium theory attempts to explain the behavior of supply, demand, and prices in a whole economy with several or many interacting markets, by seeking to prove that the interaction of demand and supply will result in an overall general equilibrium. General equilibrium theory contrasts to the theory of partial equilibrium, which only analyzes single markets.
Market fundamentalism, also known as free-market fundamentalism, is a term applied to a strong belief in the ability of unregulated laissez-faire or free-market capitalist policies to solve most economic and social problems. Palagummi Sainath believes Jeremy Seabrook, a journalist and campaigner, first used the term. The term was used by Jonathan Benthall in an Anthropology Today editorial in 1991 and by John Langmore and John Quiggin in their 1994 book Work for All.
The policy-ineffectiveness proposition (PIP) is a new classical theory proposed in 1975 by Thomas J. Sargent and Neil Wallace based upon the theory of rational expectations, which posits that monetary policy cannot systematically manage the levels of output and employment in the economy.
Heterodox economics is any economic thought or theory that contrasts with orthodox schools of economic thought, or that may be beyond neoclassical economics. These include institutional, evolutionary, feminist, social, post-Keynesian, ecological, Georgist, Austrian, Marxian, socialist and anarchist economics, among others.
David Cass was a professor of economics at the University of Pennsylvania, mostly known for his contributions to general equilibrium theory. His most famous work was on the Ramsey–Cass–Koopmans model of economic growth.
The Sonnenschein–Mantel–Debreu theorem is an important result in general equilibrium economics, proved by Gérard Debreu, Rolf Mantel, and Hugo F. Sonnenschein in the 1970s. It states that the excess demand curve for a market populated with utility-maximizing rational agents can take the shape of any function that is continuous, has homogeneity degree zero, and is in accordance with Walras's law. This implies that market processes will not necessarily reach a unique and stable equilibrium point.
Dynamic stochastic general equilibrium modeling is a method in macroeconomics that attempts to explain economic phenomena, such as economic growth and business cycles, and the effects of economic policy, through econometric models based on applied general equilibrium theory and microeconomic principles.
New classical macroeconomics, sometimes simply called new classical economics, is a school of thought in macroeconomics that builds its analysis entirely on a neoclassical framework. Specifically, it emphasizes the importance of rigorous foundations based on microeconomics, especially rational expectations.
Whither Socialism? is a book on economics by Joseph Stiglitz, first published in 1994 by MIT Press.
Mathematical economics is the application of mathematical methods to represent theories and analyze problems in economics. By convention, these applied methods are beyond simple geometry, such as differential and integral calculus, difference and differential equations, matrix algebra, mathematical programming, and other computational methods. Proponents of this approach claim that it allows the formulation of theoretical relationships with rigor, generality, and simplicity.
Macroeconomic theory has its origins in the study of business cycles and monetary theory. In general, early theorists believed monetary factors could not affect real factors such as real output. John Maynard Keynes attacked some of these "classical" theories and produced a general theory that described the whole economy in terms of aggregates rather than individual, microeconomic parts. Attempting to explain unemployment and recessions, he noticed the tendency for people and businesses to hoard cash and avoid investment during a recession. He argued that this invalidated the assumptions of classical economists who thought that markets always clear, leaving no surplus of goods and no willing labor left idle.
The Cambridge capital controversy, sometimes called "the capital controversy" or "the two Cambridges debate", was a dispute between proponents of two differing theoretical and mathematical positions in economics that started in the 1950s and lasted well into the 1960s. The debate concerned the nature and role of capital goods and a critique of the neoclassical vision of aggregate production and distribution. The name arises from the location of the principals involved in the controversy: the debate was largely between economists such as Joan Robinson and Piero Sraffa at the University of Cambridge in England and economists such as Paul Samuelson and Robert Solow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Behavioral game theory analyzes interactive strategic decisions and behavior using the methods of game theory, experimental economics, and experimental psychology. Experiments include testing deviations from typical simplifications of economic theory such as the independence axiom and neglect of altruism, fairness, and framing effects. As a research program, the subject is a development of the last three decades. Traditional game theory focuses on mathematical equilibriums, utility maximizing, and rational choice; in contrast, behavioral game theory focuses on choices made by participants in studies and is game theory applied to experiments. Choices studied in behavioral game theory are not always rational and do not always represent the utility maximizing choice.
Most economic models rest on a number of assumptions that are not entirely realistic. For example, agents are often assumed to have perfect information, and markets are often assumed to clear without friction. Or, the model may omit issues that are important to the question being considered, such as externalities. Any analysis of the results of an economic model must therefore consider the extent to which these results may be compromised by inaccuracies in these assumptions, and there is a growing literature debunking economics and economic models.
Inframarginal analysis is an analytical method in the study of classical economics. Xiaokai Yang created the super marginal analysis method and revived the important thought of division of labour of Adam Smith. The new classical economics reconstructs several independent economic theories with the core of neoclassical economics from the perspective of endogenous individual choice specialization level by means of inframarginal analysis, which is the frontier subject of economics development.
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