'Don't Study Economics' Top Economist Warns Students

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Who is Dr. Steve Keen?

Dr. Steve Keen is an influential economist who has dedicated over 50 years to challenging mainstream economic theories. Since his days as a university student, he has been engaged in a David vs. Goliath battle against conventional economic models. Holding a Ph.D. in economics, Dr. Keen is well-known for his critical analysis and advocacy for more realistic economic approaches. His work emphasizes the importance of accounting for financial instability and incorporates elements of complex systems theory. Engineers, finance professionals, and IT experts will appreciate his methodical breakdown of economic phenomena and his development of the Minsky software, which models financial crises. Dr. Keen's contributions are crucial for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of how economic systems can impact technological and financial environments. His teachings offer valuable insights into the economic forces shaping our world. By following his analysis, professionals can gain a better grasp of economic dynamics that influence their fields.

[glennwatson]

I teach high school econ (macro) and the way I understand it is that none of these graphs were ever supposed to explain reality. They are just tools to begin to understand.

[Jay-kkdv]

Everyone taking economics in college understood it did not match with real life but everyone went along with it

[talisikid]

Actually, you need to study psychology, sociology, history and then system dynamics. Economics is far more than mere mathematics.

[boudivv]

Finally an economist that I, being an engineer, can understand.

[Reginald-rrgh]

What you say is correct; however, not many people have studied math through differential equations by the time they’ve taken their first course in economics. So, some simplifying assumptions need to be made to make the subject understandable to a person just starting their education. Simplifying assumptions are made all the time in teaching elementary engineering courses, (e.g., it’s a perfect gas, the flow is laminar, the motion is frictionless, the response is linear, blah, blah, blah). More realistic analyses can be made and simplifications dropped later.

[caliguy]

Part of the problem with economics education is that in order to understand dynamical systems, a substantial amount of mathematical maturity is required. This means completing coursework in: derivative, integral, multivariable, and vector calculus, linear algebra, ordinary and partial differential equations, upper division statistics and probability, real analysis, and complex analysis. This is a MINIMAL list, and most who are not math majors will not have the requisite background.

[karlkafer]

very interesting. i love to see mainstream econnomics challenged. but i also found it pretty clear in my studies that the equilibrium state of models is something that is usually not reached and that external forces create dynamics.

[eldraque]

love it, non-linear dynamics is so overlooked

[vivianoosthuizen]

Spent years doing activity based costing of different government information technology departments. This made me realise that instead of reducing cost if you add technology it increases cost. Just like using a bank card for paying instead of cash. The world’s IT spend is nearly 6% of GDP but believe me it’s more than that if the extra electricity, training, recycling, transport, satellites, fraud and crime enabling, as well as health effects are added but they don’t. This causes huge disruption in worldwide measurements in economies simply because technology doesn’t produce any of the basic needs housing, food, water, clothing etc it’s just a tool like a hammer and like the hammer doesn’t produce a house it does however affect the cost, productivity and most of all because technology is expensive and forms a big part of cost it increases prices and inflation

[justinlevy]

First encountered this way of thinking with Anwar Sheikh, also a former engineer. Been meaning to pick up your books, will do so soon.

[Victor.Hugo]

A month ago I spoke to Professor James Galbraith, the son of John Kenneth Galbraith, about my decision to enrol in an economics major at Ut Austin, where he teaches at a masters program. He told me, "AVOID THE ECONOMIC DEPARTMENT LIKE THE PLAGUE".

[MrMarinus]

I think MMT actually does shown promise mainly because it shifts the conversation from "how do we get money" to "What should we do with the resources we have?"

[tigers]

All I say is this guy has called house prices to drop in Australia for years, and it hardly happened.
I find him refreshing, but he gets stuff wrong too.

[waleedaddas]

“Tractatus anti-economicus” is a visionary handbook on the same subject. I hope it helps! Thanks

[ClaudyFocan-fste]

I think you did not get what these two curve represent. This is obvious to everyone that the marginal cost decreases. This is called economies of scale and everyone knows about it. But after a certain threshold, if you are in overcapacity the marginal cost need to mechanically increase (because e.g. the machines have limited capacity, the supplier can only provide that much raw material ! )

[henry]

diminishing marginal productivity is not a law, it’s one representation of firm technology. all industry models taught in university utilize constant return to scale

[snailmail]

"Why did the textbook become a best-seller during a price gouging scandal? Because just like the costs in those old economics theories, its price kept going up with every chapter you added!"

"Ever notice how the explanations for price hikes sound like they're straight out of an economics textbook? It's almost like they're saying, 'Don't worry, we're just charging you more to cover our 'increased costs of pretending we need to charge more.'"

[JohnDoe-wutt]

I have to agree as someone who studied economics, was an economist and taught economics at university. Economics is really an inter disciplinary subject. In abstract becomes highly mathematical and abstract. These ideas then need to be considered alongside other disciplines and the value is a more in depth analysis. Political economics, bahavioural economics, environmental economics etc. I would argue economics imposes a rigour but is not to be believed as the sole answer to how things work in the real world.

[Riggsnic_co]

The U.S. economy can actually get better if only the govt can start making better decisions for the sake of it's citizens, cos' they've really made life more difficult for its residents. Hyperinflation has left the less haves bearing the brunt of the burden. Its already eating into my entire $620k retirement portfolio. Like where else can we invest our money with less risks?

[codevacaphe]

Now that's kind of make sense. I'm a computer scientist and out of interest I simulate some economy models like some basics graph theory setup then try to simulate how a sudden event will affect the whole economy structure as a whole. Then, I have a measurement to measure those index theory, of course it's a lot of probabilities and I think I saw some case match the text book case but some variation arise as well.