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A primer on mathematical modelling in economics
journal contribution
posted on 2012-09-01, 00:00 authored by B Rai, C So, Aaron NicholasAaron NicholasThe Commission on Graduate Education in Economics had raised several concerns regarding the role of mathematics in graduate training in economics (Krueger, 1991; Colander, 1998, 2005). This paper undertakes a detailed scrutiny of the notion of a utility function to motivate and describe the common patterns across mathematical concepts and results that are used by economists. In the process one arrives at a classification of mathematical terms which is used to state mathematical results in economics. The usefulness of the classification scheme is illustrated with the help of a discussion of Arrow's impossibility theorem. Common knowledge of the patterns in mathematical concepts and results could be effective in enhancing communication between students, teachers and researchers specializing in different sub-fields of economics.
History
Journal
Journal of economic surveysVolume
26Issue
4Pagination
594 - 615Publisher
Blackwell Publishing LtdLocation
Oxford, EnglandPublisher DOI
ISSN
0950-0804eISSN
1467-6419Language
engPublication classification
C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2010, Blackwell Publishing LtdUsage metrics
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